


The Spectacular Spider-Student

by LordTerronus



Series: Spider-Student Saga [1]
Category: Spider-Man - All Media Types, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Canon Compliant, Gen, M/M, Major Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-12
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:20:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 49,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22680112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LordTerronus/pseuds/LordTerronus
Summary: UA High. The greatest hero academy in the world, known for bringing in the best of the best heroes in training and making legends from them. This great institution has brought forth many potential heroes, One of which being Keiji Parker. The son of the famous american hero, Spider Man! Read on to find out more about UA's Friendly Neighbourhood Spider Student!
Relationships: Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead & Original Character(s), Bakugou Katsuki & Original Character(s), Class 1-A (My Hero Academia) & Original Character(s), Iida Tenya & Midoriya Izuku & Uraraka Ochako, Midoriya Izuku & Original Character(s), Original Character(s) & Original Character(s), Other Relationship Tags to Be Added, Yagi Toshinori | All Might & Original Character(s)
Series: Spider-Student Saga [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1631548
Comments: 18
Kudos: 13





	1. Spider-Start!

The UA practical entrance exam was a rather significant event for any aspiring hero. It attracted individuals from all walks of life to approach this remarkable heroic institution, inspired by the stories of remarkable heroes such All-Might, Endeavour and dozens more. One such student bears a name belonging to a great hero. His name is Keiji Parker. This is his story.

Keiji’s father was a magnificent hero from America, known to the public as Spider-Man. He was kind, and good looking and all of the usual things one would expect from a professional hero. Keiji learned a great deal of English from his father, and was rather close to him. Despite All-Might getting all of the attention, to Keiji, Spider-Man was the greatest hero of all time. No, not Spider-Man. Peter Parker, his father. 

And then he died.

Peter Parker was pronounced dead after a crippling battle against a villain. Keiji never found out which one of his father’s numerous enemies was the one to end him. He had, of course, heard of the court case of now convicted criminal, The Green Goblin, who was charged with the murder. Keiji felt sick just thinking of the man, and so attempted to ignore everything about him. He never heard the villain’s real name and he hoped it would remain that way. His father’s life was his own, and he wanted to avoid it. This was why he was sent to live with his mother. 

She was a similarly nice woman. It was from her that Keiji gained his name, his knowledge of Japanese culture, especially it’s heroes and his good looks, as she was fond of teasingly reminding him. He smiled at that memory. Her name was Rita Akita, and she was his other favourite hero. Though, he supposed it didn’t really count as, despite her useful Quirk, known as Danger Sense, she never officially went into the heroics business. She owned a small restaurant in Tokyo, and made quite the living off of it. Especially with the official sponsorship from his father’s hero agency, as well as the full rights to his heroic identity. This was pledged to her in his father’s will, although oddly, the name Spider-Man was entrusted to him. 

He shook his head. Now wasn’t the time to be focused on his past. The last thing he needed was tears on the exam floor. As the bus transporting the applicants to the model city where the exam was being held moved ever onwards, he chose to instead focus on the present. He looked around, seeing a number of interesting applicants. There was a blonde boy sitting near him that looked genuinely ready to explode at any minute. His battle hungry expression sent a shiver down Keiji’s spine, so he looked away. His eyes landed on another boy who looked to be the complete opposite. A nervous expression, shaking hands and sweating like crazy, his entire form screamed “I’m terrified!” Keiji smirked a little. It was good to know that other people felt as nervous as he was. Despite his heroic father, he wasn’t exactly the best combatant, nor the best strategist. He could only hope that his Quirk could let him get by in this test. 

“I hope you’re proud, Dad.” He whispered to himself. The bus quickly came to a stop and he left it eagerly. Despite his nervousness, he really wanted to stretch his legs and get moving. His mother would say that he was the most energetic person she had ever met. His father would call him the second. After Electro. That would always crack them both up. 

“And… Begin!” A loud voice screamed as the exam was officially beginning, and suddenly the energy that Keiji had pent up was flowing throughout his body. He held out his hands and webs attached to the buildings, allowing him to quickly rush into the exam grounds.

He had inherited his father’s Quirk, Spider Form, for the most part, but his mother’s power was also mixed in with it, a trait his mother jokingly dubbed his “Spider-Sense”. The name used to annoy Keiji, but he had grown to like the name. He could also spin his own organic webbing that was launched through small holes in his forearms, which had the strength to easily lift him off the ground. He leapt from his first set of webs and dived onto his first target, a three pointer robot. His strength and momentum carried his legs through the machine’s head, leaving it crushed. His smirk quickly grew into a wide grin. He could do this. He _would_ do this.

The minutes passed in a blur as he swung from one part of the model city to another, colliding with dozens of robots. By Keiji’s count, he had managed to earn 38 points. Somehow, he had managed to run into ten three point machines and four two pointers but not a single one pointer. He guessed that they were all near the front of the exam centre, while the more difficult machines were further into the city. He landed on the ground, desperate for a quick rest. His hands had rope burn from hanging onto his webs for so long and his head was aching. With machines everywhere and some reckless examinees that could be just as dangerous, his Spider-Sense had been going crazy. He had thought that the worst of it was over when without warning, his head seemed to practically explode and the ground beneath him shook.

“What the hell?! Agh, this is bad.” Keiji loudly spoke to no one in particular. He turned around and his jaw dropped at the sight of a gigantic machine, heading forwards, away from him and towards most of the other examinees. His first thought was to run away. After all, the thing was heading away from him. If he was quick, he could web sling out before the thing had reached a single examinee, or even use his wall crawling to move stealthily. He was certain he had enough points to pass the test, so there was nothing wrong with getting out of there, right?

It wasn’t until after his rant on running away that he had realised that he was running. Running _towards_ the giant robot that could crush him like an ant with barely a thought. Somehow, his body had thought that this was the sane option. On pure impulse, he webbed onto the back of the machine and stuck himself to the metal surface. In a panic, his mind raced to find a way out of this situation.

“Okay, we could bust through its armour and get out through the surface, or just swing off, or—“ His thoughts were interrupted by large explosive sound. He looked up to see that the machine’s head had been destroyed. If it wasn’t for the fact that he had stuck himself to the machine’s back, this would’ve amazed him.

However he was, and was now more terrified than he thought was possible. His Spider Sense screamed at him to move, but in his panic, he found himself paralyzed as the machine started to fall backwards. After a few moments in which he felt perilously close to imminent death, he managed to swing himself onto the roof of a building, from which he saw the machine topple to the ground. He also saw a boy with a broken arm falling to his death. Just like would’ve. Once again, his mind raced with ideas. He couldn’t risk swinging to him, in case he hit the broken arm. He could try building a net of web to catch him, but his reserves were pretty low after the exam. He suddenly stopped. He couldn’t do anything. Someone was about to die, and he couldn’t do anything.

Thankfully, his fall was stopped by someone at ground level. Although Keiji couldn’t help feeling unpleasant about the situation. He had rushed in to stop the robot without even thinking, and because he was so reckless, he used up the rest of his webs in such a panic that when the time to do something heroic arrived, he was useless. He hadn’t even known why he had leapt up to the machine. Did he somehow think he could stop it? Did he want to save someone in its line of fire? He couldn’t tell. On the bright side, he was sure he had enough points to pass. He just had to make up for that less than stellar conclusion in the written test. He rushed down to the ground and practically sprinted back outside the fake city.

The written exam was where Keiji really felt at home. He wasn’t the most aggressive person and wasn’t much good in a straight fight. He had only managed to beat so many robots in the practical test by slamming into them with his momentum and strength. If he was fighting the machines on level ground, it mightn’t have gone nearly as well. He shuddered at the thought.

But a test of intelligence and hero trivia? That was his element. By his own calculations, he had gotten up to about 80%, an almost definite pass. Now, he just had to wait.


	2. The Spider's Web

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keiji returns from the UA Entrance Exams into his own hectic personal life, and eagerly awaits the final decision on his future!

The route from the UA entrance exam back to his mother’s restaurant was a fairly long one, but after such a stressful situation, Keiji was glad to take a long walk through the streets of Mustafu City. It took him almost an hour to reach the train station to take him into Tokyo, so he used this time in the same way that most teens would while waiting for a lift: idly looking through his phone.

He continued this on the train back through to Tokyo, scanning through a pro hero forum site he visited often. He thought for a moment, and then started up a conversation with a friend of his.

_[Spider-Boy86]: Just took the UA Exams. Don’t think i've ever been so stressed! :)_

_Message read by [MightyBoy15]_

Keiji frowned as he saw this. Usually, his forum friend would respond at a rapid pace, often typing out long paragraphs when the two were discussing heroes and Quirks. This was the first time that they hadn’t responded within two minutes, and Keiji couldn’t help but find it odd. Before he could dwell, however, he reached his stop.

__

“Aw man, I’m late for my shift.” Keiji groaned. Recently, he had started working part-time at his mother’s restaurant, _The Spider’s Web._

* * *

__

The restaurant was based on his father’s hero identity and was one of the biggest restaurants in all of Tokyo, probably for that very reason. Hero based businesses were very big in their modern society. To help prove this point, the only restaurant bigger in popularity was one themed around All-Might. Keiji smiled slightly at the thought. They were second only to the number one hero? Not bad.

__

“Maybe I can get that far one day.” Keiji muttered to himself. It was a small habit of his to talk to himself. It helped him focus on information better. Even if it did often warrant him some strange looks. He dispelled these thoughts from his head as he entered the restaurant through a door at the side. Immediately he was hit with the smell of fried food and the busy scrambling of a kitchen. His mother noticed him and waved.

__

“Busy day?” Keiji asked with a hint of sarcasm. The restaurant was usually pretty packed, but after the UA entrance exams, as well as similar tests going on in other schools, led people to seek out high quality food as a cause for celebration. Naturally, this meant that exam time was one of their busiest few days.

__

“Haha, mister comedian. C’mon, get your uniform on and later you can tell me all about your exam.” His mother looked at him, squinting her light green eyes, one of which being covered by a lock of her black hair. These were traits which Keiji inherited from her, although his hair was slightly lighter, while his eyes became oddly dual coloured. One was light green like his mother’s and the other was dark blue like his fathers. Keiji often felt self conscious about this, and so tended to use a contact in one eye to make them look more consistent. Today, it was the green one.

__

Wandering to the nearby kitchen bathroom, Keiji found his uniform, which was stored in a small box to the left side of the room and carefully changed clothes in a cubicle. When he left, he saw himself in a rather fancy suit. It came with deep blue trousers and a similarly coloured shirt, with a red overcoat and a small bowtie with a web pattern on it rounding out the look. Standard attire for a waiter at the restaurant. With his change complete, Keiji headed out to begin taking orders.

* * *

__

Keiji had been working in the restaurant for about half an hour when he saw them. There were a lot of faces around his age, going out to celebrate after a tough exam. Some from UA, Some from Shiketsu, and many more from schools across the country. The one thing he noticed that was consistent was the fact that every one of them had an optimistic smile on their face. Everyone was feeling optimistic, or just being happy that they even tried.

__

Everyone, except for the green haired boy sitting at a corner table.

__

He looked like he was just a hair’s breath away from crying. There was also a woman there with him that seemed to be attempting to comfort him. Keiji frowned slightly as he saw them. This was a time to be happy, a place to be happy. He wouldn’t let someone be so sad here. Not in his restaurant!

__

He approached calmly, with a reassuring smile upon his face. As he got closer he noticed more details about the pair sitting at the table. The boy had eyes that matched the colour of his hair and some freckles upon his face. He appeared to be spacing out as the woman- presumably his mother- consoled him.

__

“Hi! My name is Keiji, and I’ll be your waiter for this,” Keiji began before looking down at his watch. He knew the time, but this was a simple bit of humour to help lighten the mood. “Evening, I think.” He concluded with a quizzical tone of voice. The boy’s mother chuckled but the boy himself remained silent.

__

“Thank you. I’m Inko Midoriya, and this is my son Izuku.” The woman politely introduced. This wasn’t strictly necessary but the woman, Inko, was not oblivious to their waiter’s attempts at lightening the mood. She appreciated this, and out of politeness, introduced herself.

__

“No way.” Keiji said in mock surprise. “You’re his mother? I thought you had to be his sister for sure.” Inko let out a bit more of a laugh at that. Even the boy, Izuku, seemed to chuckle a little, finally noticing what was going on.

__

“Hey buddy, you look a little, sad. What’s up?” Keiji nervously approached the main issue. He knew he was supposed to just take their order, but to hell with rules! Someone was sad, and Keiji needed to help. Lightening the mood happened to be a Parker family specialty.

__

“O-oh, it’s nothing. Just a poor Exam…” Izuku was clearly less willing to engage in conversation with a staff member, even if they did appear to be his age. Keiji made an “ah” sound from sympathy.

__

“I can relate there. I just had my UA Exam and, I have never been so stressed in my life.” Keiji sounded somewhat tired as he said that last part. Izuku’s eyes seemed to widen slightly as he looked up.

__

“What happened?” Izuku seemed slightly more interested, now knowing that this person could sympathise with them. Keiji smirked. His plan was working. Step 1; take their mind off of their problem. Step 2; use his own experience to do so, with a fun story.

__

“So, everything’s going fine, until this _huge_ robot shows up!” Keiji began. “I’m standing behind it, thinking ‘I gotta get out of here.’ So, logically, my first instinct is to run _onto_ the giant killer robot.” Keiji emphasised the joke, and managed to get a proper laugh out of Mrs. Midoriya and a wince of sympathy from Izuku.

__

“Before I can try to get off, the thing starts exploding, which would’ve been great to see from any other view, but for me? It was hell. So, I quickly launched myself off, since as you know, cool guys don’t look at explosions,” Keiji added some mock smugness there, managing to get both of them to laugh.

__

“So, as I watch this thing blow up, probably costing UA a lot of money in the process, I see that apparently, a kid just punched this thing to pieces. Punched it to pieces!” Keiji sighed as he concluded his story.

__

“I swear, if that kid didn’t pass, then UA’s judges are as dumb as monkeys.” Mrs. Midoriya let out a hearty laugh, and Izuku smiled, finally looking up at Keiji. Having successfully managed to ease their sadness. Keiji moved on to finally taking their orders, and walked to the kitchen with a smile on his face.

* * *

__

It was about two weeks later when Keiji finally received word back from UA on his exams, in the form of an envelope with the UA seal stamped upon it. He held it nervously, his hands shaking. This letter contained the potential beginnings of his hero’s journey, or his greatest- or rather, his second greatest failure- and that thought scared him. He held his fate in his hands.

__

“Are you gonna keep staring or are you gonna open it?” His mother asked, making Keiji jumped. He took a deep breath and slowly opened the letter. He reached inside and found not only the letter but also a small round device. He pulled it out of the envelope and placed it onto the table.

__

“Huh, what’s this?” Keiji asked himself as he glanced at the device. His mother seemed to recognise it and took it upon herself to answer.

__

“I’m pretty sure that’s one of those ‘projection messages’ that UA has. Your Uncle Aizawa mentioned those once.” His mother helpfully informed. Keiji smirked. His ‘Uncle’ Aizawa wasn’t technically related to him, but he was a good friend of both his mother and father, having built a strong relationship with his father especially once the family had properly moved from New York City to Tokyo. After a while, Keiji just thought of him as another part of the family, referring to him as his uncle. Aizawa didn’t object, and so it stuck.

__

Keiji pressed a button on the side of the device and a bright light shone from it, revealing a screen with a most unexpected person on the screen.

__

“ALL MIGHT?!” he and his mother cried out in synchronised surprise. The image explained that All Might was now a teacher at UA, and that Keiji had indeed passed the Entrance Exam. Honestly, Keiji was only half paying attention to the image on screen. His mind simply raced with the thought that he was going to be able to attend UA. The rest wasn’t really necessary. Keiji idly noticed that he had placed near the bottom of the Entrance Exam scores; coming in at eleventh place but that didn’t really concern him.

__

He was going to UA. That was all that mattered.

__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's definitely not my strongest work. It's actually my least favourite of the fic. It's still alright, but in hindsight, more stuff should really have happened. 
> 
> Readers, remind me to add more explosions next time! 
> 
> Also, I still have a tumblr! Feel fre to have a look and ask me whatever![*Jazz hands!*](https://lordterronus.tumblr.com)


	3. Getting Tangled

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first day of school arrives, and Keiji is ready to be put to the test. Fitting, since the class is stuck with a fitness test - with their school attendance hanging in the balance! Normally, Keiji would have no problem, but a certain shake in his hand, accompanied by echoes from the past might just hold him back...!

Keiji found the train ride to UA High for his first day unbearably slow. In reality, this wasn’t the case, as he was riding in a rather fast vehicle, but Keiji still couldn’t bear the wait to go to his new Hero School.

“I bet I could swing there faster.” Keiji grumbled quietly to himself. While Keiji didn’t have a Quirk Application Licence in Japan, he had practiced his swinging in New York and was rather proficient. Certainly more so than the New York taxis, that was for sure. He had only swung on his webs a few times in Japan, usually in small, unpopulated areas to avoid being noticed.

He perished the thought as soon as the train stopped in favour of another one: Thanks to his superhuman strength, if he ran, he could get to UA approximately twenty minutes early. He charged off rapidly, bumping into his fair share of passengers on the way.

“Sorry!” He called out behind him. It was a hollow gesture, but he meant it, and liked to think that some people appreciated it.

As he suspected, he arrived at UA fairly early. Well, early for _students_ at least. The teachers were expected to have arrived at least thirty minutes before school began, especially on important days like this one.

And if Keiji was lucky, he might find a certain rational teacher before school began. A small smirk appeared on his face.

* * *

Shota Aizawa was, above all, a rational man. At first glance, this would not seem to be the case, as his appearance and mannerisms never depicted him in a rational light. More often the words ‘crazy’ or ‘bizarre’ came to mind. Shota could see where they came from, but their logic was flawed.

He was a _rational_ man. Not a normal one.

As such, getting some sleep before he had to confront a room full of superhuman children, the number of which he was almost certain to diminish later that day, seemed most logical to him. Others might have thought that the sleeping bag was ridiculous, but he was one of the few that saw its practicality. The ability to rest at any location outweighed other concerns, such as ‘social decency’ and ‘professionalism’. It was for this reason that he was trying to sleep for an extra twenty minutes.

“Uncle Aizawa!”

Oh dear god.

“Oh, you’re asleep, huh? Aw.”

Oh thank god.

“I’ll just… talk at you, I guess.”

And the cycle of torment continues.

* * *

Keiji shuffled his feet awkwardly at the doorway of the staffroom. He was lucky that Uncle Aizawa’s rigid schedule meant that he was the only teacher there. Otherwise, his rather loud entrance would be much more embarrassing. Uncle Aizawa just sitting there, in a sleeping bag (which he decided better not to question) made this much easier.

“So,” He began. Aizawa’s snore seemed to beckon him to keep going. “I made it. I actually made it.” A grin appeared on his face. “I- I honestly thought I’d screw it up. I guess all of your agonising training drills paid off.” He laughed, before his face briefly fell. “I just remembered. I’m in your class, so please please don’t do another drill on your first day. I just got here and would rather stay that way…” He pleaded.

Uncle Aizawa’s face twitched slightly. Keiji narrowed his eyes.

“You’re already doing aren’t you?” His dear uncle gave a brief snore of confirmation. “God dammit.” Keiji groaned. A brief glance down at his watch prompted him to stop there; he only had 10 minutes to find his class. If Uncle Aizawa found his nephew, the son of his second-best friend was late?

Keiji shuddered violently at the thought.

“I’ve gotta run, Ok? I’ll see you in class.” And with that, Keiji turned and began to step out from the doorway. But for a moment, one brief moment, he hesitated. There was one more thing he was hoping to talk about with his uncle.

“H-hey…” He stammered nervously. This particular topic was uncomfortable for Keiji to talk about with anyone, even his closest ‘family’. “A-about the… the pills…” He stopped himself. This was ridiculous. Aizawa was asleep, and he didn’t have time. What if someone overheard him? No, his... _condition_ was not a topic he could bring up safely here.

“Never mind. It’s nothing. We can talk later?” He visibly relaxed as he dropped the subject. Uncle Aizawa let out a brief groan in response. Once more, Keiji smirked, though far more shakily than before. Without another word, Keiji shot off towards class room 1-A.

And at the same moment, Aizawa opened his eyes with a start.

* * *

Aizawa had half a mind to shoot out of his sleeping bag and chase down his nephew right there and then. If he was talking about what Aizawa thought he was, then his day just got much more stressful.

Fortunately, Aizawa was a rational man. A man of logic and reason, who would never act on such disruptive emotional impulses. No, bumping into Present Mic at the doorway of the staffroom with a look that would send shivers through Death himself was simply him in a rush to get some early work done. He said just as much.

“On the first day? Of the New Year? With that look?” Present Mic enquired. “Damn, Man, What Kinda Fool D’ya Take Me For?!” The man practically announced to the whole building. Aizawa raised a hand to shush the man.

“Calm down, I don’t want a headache before I even get in.” He spoke in a much calmer tone. Mic made a point of covering his mouth with his hands and saying “Sorry.” In a tone that Aizawa had come to know as his ‘whispering’. To any casual observer, he simply spoke normally.

“But Seriously, Man, What’s With That Look?” Mic’s volume shifted back up again and Aizawa silently resigned himself to a day rife with ear-ringing.

“I just didn’t sleep well. That’s all.” Aizawa rationalised. It technically wasn’t even a lie. His nephew _had_ disturbed an otherwise peaceful rest.

Speaking of which…

“Wake me up in ten minutes.” Aizawa walked back into his sleeping bag, and attempted to rest once more.

And of course, it was at that moment that the UA bell rang to signal the start of the new day. Just his luck.

“On second thought, can you-?” Aizawa began before Mic chuckled and, with relative ease, picked up Aizawa, sleeping bag and all, moved him to the floor outside the staff room, and slid his bag down the corridor. Aizawa smirked at the experience.

“What would I do without him?” He thought to himself briefly, before discreetly landing in front of the door. Or rather, he would have, were a small group of talking students not blocking his way. He sighed inwardly.

“If you’re here to socialise, then get out.” He said coldly.

And so another day began.

* * *

And so Keiji’s fresh hell began.

It didn’t take a master detective to deduce that Aizawa was annoyed about something. It was also evident that he was still in his sleeping bag, so Keiji just had to put two and two together.

In hindsight, maybe disturbing the sleep of his strict, coldly logical uncle who had a habit of expelling students early and was one of his most brutal trainers was a _bad_ idea?

Thanks a lot for that warning, Spider Sense, he thought as he made a pointed attempt to look at the floor. It was strange that carpets were suddenly much more fascinating in the face of imminent doom.

“My name is Shota Aizawa, and I’ll be your homeroom teacher. Nice to meet you.” Aizawa introduced himself to the class whilst climbing out from his sleeping bag. Keiji slowly brought his eyes up so that he could see Aizawa standing in the centre of the room, wiping his eyes with one arm. A small pang of guilt shot through his chest, but he attempted to dismiss it. His uncle never got much sleep anyway, so it would make sense for him to still be tired regardless of Keiji’s brief interruption.

This didn’t do much to ease Keiji’s guilt, but it was better than lingering on it for too long.

Aizawa seemed to pull a UA Gym uniform from his sleeping bag, though the motion was so fast he didn’t notice exactly where it came from. Aizawa’s usual grogginess never seemed to affect his reflexes, a sign of his skills as a Pro Hero.

“Put these on and meet me outside as soon as possible. Your first day begins now.” With that, Aizawa began to exit the room, before briefly beckoning his students to follow him out. Everyone quickly followed his lead to three small rooms located at the ground floor.

“There are a set of Gym clothes within these changing rooms which should be accommodated for your body size, as well as your quirk should it be necessary. You’ll find them in the numbered suitcases by the wall.” Aizawa explained. He gestured towards the signs before continuing. “The male room is on the left, female on the right, and those with quirks which cause them to not match either use the central room.” Keiji raised an eyebrow at that but didn’t think to question it. There were some strange quirks out there- especially Mutant-type quirks.

He knew that more than most.

“Get suited up and meet me at the grounds.” Aizawa instructed and the others all shuffled into the rooms on the right and left, though there was a student with six arms who paused briefly at the central door, before moving to the left. Keiji was at the back of the line, standing behind Izuku Midoriya, the boy he recognised from his restaurant.

“Keiji, a moment please.” Aizawa said, slightly quieter than his earlier instructions, but it was of no difference to Keiji’s super senses. He stopped outside the door and slowly turned to face his uncle, expecting the worst.

Uncle Aizawa sighed before talking. “Relax, kid. I’m not going to bite your head off. I just wanted to tell you that I won’t be pulling any punches. Don’t expect any special treatment just because we’re family.” He explained coldly. Keiji gulped nervously but composed himself quickly- he knew not to expect Aizawa to hold back.

That didn’t mean he wasn’t disappointed, however. He wasn’t sure if he could handle his uncle’s tests, so he was hoping for _some_ leniency.

“Oh, by the way, we can talk after the day is over, Ok?” Uncle Aizawa’s voice had just the barest hint of warmth behind it, but coming from the usually reserved man this would be enough for the icecaps to be melted. Keiji beamed up at him.

“Yes! Thanks Uncle- er, I mean Mister Aizawa.” Keiji said, before turning to the door. He paused briefly before entering for just a moment, however.

“Oh, and… Sir?” He stopped himself from saying ‘Uncle’ this time.

“What’s up?” Uncle Aizawa began to say, before Keiji startled him by grabbing him in a hug.

“I’m glad you’re here too.” Keiji whispered. Aizawa showed a rare smile and patted him on the head for a moment.

“Me too.” He replied. “Now, get changed. You’re not being late for my first lesson.” His professionalism returning, Uncle Aizawa ushered him into the room on the left. He watched as Keiji walked into the room, looked back with a smirk on his face. As soon as the door closed, Aizawa’s face fell for a moment.

 _“I hope I’m wrong about the kid.”_ He thought, before heading off to the grounds.

After all, he had a class to run.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter had quite a gap between it and the second when I first released it. It also turned out much better than Chapter two in my opinion, since I sat down and formed a plan for the story. I was basically winging it for the first few. 
> 
> I...didn't need to tell you that, did I? 
> 
> *ahem* Anyway, this is where the first seeds are planted for the first big story arc, which, at time of writing these notes, I'm still working on wrapping up (No promises, but maybe chapter 12-13?) 
> 
> Feel free to speculate about what's all going on, or just say whatever you want either down below, or on my still existing Tumblr! Check it out over [here! I think, anyway...](https://lordterronus.tumblr.com)
> 
> Oh, and one additional note - I dedicated this and the rest of the story to Stan Lee, who sadly passed away in 2018. Rest in peace, man.


	4. All Tied Up - Part I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keiji faces a tough challenge with a test that holds his future in the balance! Still, they know how to handle this, everything will be fine. 
> 
> ...His shaking hand disagrees.

It only took about ten minutes for everyone to finish changing and meet Aizawa in the grounds. Based on the usual quality of classes Aizawa was forced to deal with, this was quite the improvement. Timing was hardly a good indicator of potential or ability to succeed, but it was a start. Perhaps, if he was lucky, some of these students would last long enough for him to actually teach them something.

“Alright, now that everyone’s here, let me explain what we’re going to be doing.” He announced. The others all appeared to be on edge, and he couldn’t blame them. He was pushing them into the deep end from the start with this test, but it was necessary.

Villains never pulled their punches, and neither could he. If any of these kids were going to survive, he couldn’t afford to. It was important for that reason to get this test out of the way first. It wasn’t exactly fair, but it was just the reality that being a hero required a certain level of capability with your quirk, as well as the ability to control it well.

His eyes flickered towards his nephew for just a moment. His face was despondent. He looked back at Aizawa and mouthed _“Please no…”_

Aizawa smirked.

“UA requires a solid record of all of your abilities. If we’re going to be teaching you, we need to know how best to go about it. In service of that, I am going to have you all participate in a Quirk Assessment Test.” He explained to a mixed response from his students. It varied from understanding to outrage. Keiji was on the far end of the former, though he seemingly whispered “(Damn it.)” under his breath in English. He was in the minority with only about three students sharing his more rational response.

From the files UA had on their students, he recognised these three. The first was Shouto Todoroki, one of the students brought in through recommendations. He was apparently the son of Enji Todoroki, known publically as Endeavour. At least he didn’t share his temperament. The second, Momo Yaoyorozu, was also admitted through recommendations. Her powers seemed very versatile but potentially very dangerous if mishandled. Certainly someone to keep an eye on. The third was Tenya Iida, whose stiff body language and strict attitude were in stark contrast to his brother, Ingenium. It seemed that those most connected to heroes were the least likely to be bothered. He supposed they understood Aizawa’s logic better than most, likely from some degree of vicarious experience.

Others, unfortunately, were less understanding.

“A test? Now? What about the entrance ceremony, or guidance sessions?!” A girl near the front practically shrieked. He supposed that was to be expected. His teaching style was unusual, rational though it may be.

“You don’t have time to waste on those if you’re serious about becoming Pros.” Aizawa replied coldly. “UA is known for its freeform educational system. This applies just as much to teachers as students.”

The others did quiet down at that, even if it was more out of confusion over his words than anything. Either way, it would let him finish explaining.

“The test will follow the same basic structure as your standard gym tests from Middle School. Softball throwing, the standing long jump, the 50 metre dash, endurance running, grip strength, side-to-side stepping, upper body training and the seated toe touch.” Aizawa began explaining. The others were fortunately much more receptive than they had been previously been. “This country still insists on ignoring quirks for these records. It’s the height of irrationality. The department of education is wasting its time like this.” He couldn’t be sure, but Aizawa seemed to be losing the class here. Perhaps a demonstration would be more effective.

“Bakugou,” He decided. The number one entrance exam student was bound to grab their attention. “How far could you throw the softball in middle school?”

“Sixty-seven metres.” Replied a voice that seemed far too gruff to be coming from a teenager. Aizawa invited him to step up to the circular area on the ground.

“Great, now try with your quirk. Do anything you need to, as long as you don’t leave the circle.” The blonde boy nodded at Aizawa’s words, and with no hesitation, began to chuck the ball at full force.

“DIE!” he yelled as an explosion from his palm rocketed the ball forwards. Aizawa glanced at a small device in his hand and smiled. A small beep came from the device as he turned back to the class, who were now much more engaged.

“It’s important for us to know our limits. It’s the first step towards finding out what kind of heroes you can become.” He said to the class as he presented Bakugou’s score.

“705 metres?! Seriously?!”

“This looks awesome!”

“We get to use our quirks! This’ll be so much fun!”

Aizawa’s eye twitched.

“…’Fun’ you say?” His cold aggression silenced the class in an instant. This course was not meant to be fun. It was meant to be challenging, to push them to their limits.

Perhaps an extra incentive was required? This relaxed attitude would not work.

“Alright then, let’s add some stakes.” He began. “Whoever scores the lowest in all events will be deemed hopeless and be promptly expelled from the hero course.” The air felt still as tension filled the class. Aizawa smiled an eerie grin. Finally, they were taking this seriously.

“Your fates are in our hands! Welcome to the hero course at UA High!”

* * *

Keiji tried not to tremble in fear of his uncle as his decree was set, but it was certainly hard. He could now see why the name Eraserhead was so terrifying to criminals. And that wasn’t even mentioning the pressure he was now facing.

He had barely passed the practical exam and now his future was thrown back into question. He only hoped that he wouldn’t leave so soon.

“Expelled?! You can’t be serious. Even if this wasn’t our first day, that’s just way too unfair!” A brown haired girl nearby complained. Keiji frowned.

Very few people seemed to get this whole test thing.

“And random villain attacks are?” Keiji blurted out without thinking. Suddenly, all eyes were on him. And they were hardly friendly. He gulped nervously. He really needed to work on his brain-to-mouth filter.

“Parker,” Aizawa called to him and Keiji flinched. He wasn’t fond of being addressed by his last name. Just hearing it made him sound _different_ from everyone else. An English last name in Japan stood out far too much, and it made him feel oddly isolated from other people.

“You have a good point there. Care to elaborate?” Aizawa enquired. Keiji looked confused, but didn’t object. Maybe Aizawa was on the same level on him on this? Either way, he supposed he did have a point to make.

“W-well, the life of a hero is never fair,” He began. “A hero constantly has to risk their lives, and those of who they care about, when fighting all kinds of crazy villains and natural disasters. Compared to that, I’d say losing out on one method of education is fair game.” He crossed his arms as he concluded. Aizawa gave him a nod of approval, whilst everyone else showed mixed responses to his words. Oh well. Honesty had a habit of not pleasing people. He’d still stand by his words.

After all, he spoke from the heart. Back in New York, you couldn’t walk five feet without confronting some strange new villain robbing a bank, or a smashed building about to fall on someone. And after what happened with the Goblin-

_“No.”_ He hissed in his mind. _“Now’s not the time to reminisce. Stay focused.”_ He took a deep breath, steadying his heart. His right hand suddenly stopped shaking. 

Looking up, he noticed everyone had already started queuing up for the first event, the fifty metre dash. He joined hastily.

Looking up, he noticed everyone had already started queuing up for the first event, the fifty metre dash. He joined hastily.

* * *

Aizawa was glad to see that both his and Keiji’s words had had an effect on the class. Every student was on edge, and as a result were providing their best results. They all seemed much more invested thanks to his ultimatum. As they should be, he thought. They needed their best if they wanted him to teach them. Half-assed students would not do.

This was what bothered him about Keiji’s performance.

The fifty metre dash should have been a piece of cake for his nephew. He had the proportional strength of a spider, as well as perfect traction on any surface. In theory, his performance should have been exceptional. This was why Aizawa could not help but notice the unexpected drop in quality.

His score was hardly terrible, by any means. He still managed a respectable 4.36 seconds. In comparison with the other students, this was just a little above average. But there was one problem.

Keiji’s score in middle school was _3.16_ seconds. And he was not allowed to use his quirk in that test.

Granted, there was a limit to how much one could restrain his abilities. Super-strength was not a power that could just be shut off, so he always performed well at physical activities. Exactly how much of this was his quirk and how much was his own training was impossible to tell, so he managed to escape being penalised. He was however banned from larger school competitions.

Keiji’s present score simply did not add up at all. Even ignoring his strength, his training should have still kept his score more consistent. So, only two possibilities were plausible- Keiji was either slacking off on his training, which may have explained his poor performance in the practical entrance exam, or…

He was holding back.

Aizawa decided he would have to keep a closer eye on his nephew. Not that he would neglect his other students, but if he was right about what Keiji was doing then he might have a more serious problem on his hands.

* * *

Keiji smirked as he made his way to the grip strength testers. This was a test he could easily manage. No destroying giant robots, just holding something and adding pressure. He could take care of that easily. He lifted his right hand towards the machine, before pausing.

His hand was shaking again.

A flash of panic struck through his mismatched eyes, but he quickly repressed it. He was fine. Nothing was seriously wrong. It was just his hand shaking. No reason to panic. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them again.

It was still shaking.

Keiji decided to use his left hand as he grabbed onto the device. Clearly for no particular reason, of course. He was after all perfectly fine.

_“Are you sure about that~?”_ A tiny voice in his head whispered. He growled under his breath and heard the machine start to break.

“700kg. That’s quite the impressive score.” Keiji jumped as he heard another voice- thankfully not from his head- speak to him. It came from a tall boy with blue hair and glasses. He looked familiar to Keiji, but he couldn’t quite place it until he saw the engines on the boy’s calves.

“Ah, thanks. Hey, you wouldn’t happen to be related to Ingenium, would you?” Keiji asked. The boy gave a small smile as he responded with a kind, yet stern voice.

“That I am. He happens to be my older brother. My name is Tenya Iida. And you are?” Iida replied, offering his left hand for Keiji to shake. Keiji raised his right hand, which had thankfully stopped shaking. He gave a sigh of relief as they shook hands.

“I thought you looked familiar! Ingenium happens to be one of my favourite heroes!” Keiji gushed, before calming himself. “The name’s Keiji Parker, but I’d prefer to just be called Keiji.” He introduced himself. He knew it was custom to be referred to by your last name in Japan, but he found it far too informal, issues with his last name aside.

“I see. “ Iida nodded before continuing the conversation. “Your words from earlier, they sounded like they came from experience. Are you also related to a Pro Hero?” Iida enquired. Keiji beamed at the chance to talk with another person with a heroic lineage. There were certain struggles that he found such people faced that were difficult for others to relate to.

“Yeah, actually! My dad was a hero in America before we moved to Japan. Does the name Spider-Man ring a bell?” He asked excitedly. Iida raised a hand to his chin to think for a moment before shaking his head.

“Apologies, but I’m unfamiliar with him,” Keiji’s face fell briefly before Iida spoke up again. “You said ‘was’. Did something happen to him?” Iida enquired. Keiji’s previous confidence briefly fell.

“A-ah, yes. He… he died a few years ago… I’m sorry, I don’t-” Keiji was interrupted by Iida, who raised his hand in a stopping motion.

“There’s no need to apologise. It was insensitive of me to ask.”

“No, no, it’s fine. It’s just kind of a personal topic. I honestly don’t even remember it all that well.” Keiji was quick to calm Iida. He had just found his first friend in school, and he would rather not spoil the mood too early.

“I understand. Still, I apologise for disturbing you.” Keiji must have shown his confusion on his face, because Iida quickly continued. “You seemed uncomfortable and your hand was shaking.” He gestured towards Keiji’s right hand. Fortunately, it was stable now, but Keiji still gripped his arm briefly.

“Don’t worry, that’s just-” He began, however Aizawa quickly interrupted, telling the two of them to continue.

“Get moving, you two. We still have a test to conduct.” Keiji straightened up instantly, having briefly forgotten about his test.

“(R-right away, sir!)” He replied, slipping into English in his panic.

“Sorry Tenya. We can talk later?” Keiji apologised, but Iida simply smiled.

“Of course. Now, we best move on to the next event.” He replied. Keiji smiled, glad that he had finally seemed to make a friend.

And a 'real' friend this time, rather than an online one. Ha! His mother lost their bet!

* * *

Aizawa watched on as the test continued, paying careful attention to the results. Most of the students seemed to be performing rather admirably, with rather high scores across the board. Some did worse than others of course, but the results were still overall of a rather high calibre.

With a single exception. He narrowed his eyes as Izuku Midoriya continued his utterly unremarkable attempts.

Aizawa had guessed this kid in particular would be the weakest link from the entrance exams. His act of self-sacrifice in the practical, noble though it may have been, was the height of irrationality from a logical standpoint. It also resulted in far too much damage to his body for it to have been possible to consider as a good move. The judges seemed to disagree, but that was fine. If they wanted to let someone destroy themselves in their first lesson, that was on them. Aizawa simply had to make sure that such an incident wouldn’t happen again.

And, of course, there was his _other_ problem child.

Keiji was certainly faring better than Midoriya, though that was hardly an issue. Aizawa had known Keiji long enough to know that he had nothing to worry about in regards to this test. Peter had certainly drilled in the right heroic ideals and drive, and the two of them together had ensured that he had the training to handle himself.

Aizawa watched as Keiji leapt up into the air, and fired a web line into the ground. He pulled himself towards it, allowing for some good distance, as well as an impressive landing. He had a wide grin on his face, full of energy. Keiji had always loved being able to swing around with his webbing, and often seemed to feel claustrophobic in the smaller buildings around Japan. Being able to ‘stretch his legs’ so to speak obviously meant a lot to him.

His happy attitude might have had an effect on the others in the class, as while the earlier tension was still very much present, most everyone was having some degree of fun with the events. As long as they were giving it their all, Aizawa wasn’t much bothered by their attitudes.

The side stepping event also passed without incident. Aizawa found himself surprised by the good performance of the shortest student, Minoru Mineta. His was another one of the poor performances, and he seemed to carry a very poor attitude towards heroics. If it wasn’t for Midoriya’s poor results overall, he would most likely be the one to go.

Keiji didn’t seem to be performing at his best in most of the events, but it was most obvious in the side-stepping. He attempted to use his webs to zip himself between the two sensory machines, but that was hardly very effective at close range. So he mostly just jumped from side to side, with two thin strands of webbing getting stuck to the machines. At least they would dissolve in about an hour or so.

It didn’t seem like his nephew to make such an obvious error. Something must have been distracting him.

His day was just getting worse by the second. Hopefully he could finish the test without his students causing an incident.

* * *

Keiji entered into the queue for the ball-throwing event with some trepidation. He wasn’t particularly worried about being expelled, as his scores, while worse than his usual average, were still passable.

He hoped they were, anyway.

No, he was more worried about his peers. Specifically, the boy he recognised from the resteraunt. Izuku Midoriya seemed to be flunking the test badly, and as he stepped up to the ball throw he didn’t look like he was about to turn the tide. He looked more like how Keiji looked when faced with an actual spider.

Absolutely terrified.

“Midoriya doesn’t seem to be doing very well, does he?” His new friend Iida chimed in. Keiji nodded thoughtfully, his hand in his chin.

“Yeah, hopefully he can do better here, but if this continues…” Keiji was hesitant to voice his concerns for fear of saying something that would offend the green haired boy, but it was hard not to sense his death in the air.

“Of course he’s failing, he’s a Quirkless runt.” Bakugou- the boy from the demonstration- spoke up. Keiji glared at him. He hated such prejudice.

“So? If he’s made here he’s still got potential.” Keiji defended. Iida meanwhile let out a gasp of shock.

“Quirkless?! So you haven’t heard of his feats during the entrance exam?!” Keiji’s eyes widened. There was only one thing Iida could have been referring to. He looked between him and Midoriya frantically.

If Midoriya could destroy a _giant robot_ then how the hell was he failing?!

Literally how?!

He watched closely, as Midoriya prepared what looked to be a devastating throw…

Only for the ball to drop at 65 metres.

“Huh? I’m sure I used it just now…” He heard Midoriya mutter to himself. Keiji raised an eyebrow. What went wrong? Aizawa was quick to answer his unspoken query.

“I erased your quirk.” Aizawa announced, his scarf rising as he glared down at Midoriya, who was quick to recognise him as the Erasure Hero, Eraserhead. It honestly surprised Keiji that no-one else seemed to have recognised him.

“What’re they saying?” someone next to Keiji asked. Keiji attempted to focus, but with their hushed tones, even his enhanced hearing was only hearing some of it.

“I can’t quite tell, but Aizawa sounds disappointed.” He muttered in response. A moment later, the two separated and Midoriya walked up to take a second throw.

“It seems he was given some kind of special instruction.” Mused Iida. Keiji nodded. That sounded about right, based on what he could decipher.

“Instruction to leave the school, maybe.” Bakugou retorted. Keiji frowned at him. He decided that he really didn’t like this person.

His glaring was interrupted by a loud, nearly deafening boom that rang throughout the area. Upon looking back, Keiji noticed that Midoriya now appeared to have a broken finger, and the ball was soaring through the air. His jaw dropped, as did that of everyone else watching.

“Sensei!” Midoriya seemed to cry out, drawing Aizawa’s attention. “I… can still move!” He smiled as he clenched his now broken finger into a fist. Aizawa stood with a stunned smile, a rare sight from him.

“This kid…!” Keiji heard him say. The throw was impressive on its own, but stunning Aizawa?

Where was this kid’s gold medal?! He had practically _won_ hero school!

His stunned admiration was cut short by his Spider-Sense setting off a sharp buzz in his head, as well as a small pain in his shoulder as someone pushed past him.

“WHAT THE FUCK, DEKU?!” Bakugou screeched as he charged forth at Midoriya. Wasting no time, Keiji let out two streams of webbing from his wrist and restrained him. He grunted with the effort, feeling himself be pulled forwards slightly.

“Both of you, stop!” Aizawa called out. Bakugou reluctantly calmed himself- or at least seemed to, he always seemed angry- and marched back to his place, while clawing off Keiji’s webs. Keiji stopped immediately, and froze in place.

“Sorry about that, sir. Won’t happen again.” Keiji said. Aizawa hesitated for a moment before nodding.

“Just take your shot so we can finish this. I need some more eye drops.” Aizawa grumbled. Keiji carefully walked forwards into the circle, passing Midoriya as he rushed quickly into the back of the group.

“How can I top _that_ …?” He muttered to himself, thinking for a moment on how to proceed. Coming up with a plan, he attached a small web line to the ball and began to spin it around vertically in his hand.

“Gotta time this right…” He murmured under his breath. “Now!” he called out, throwing the ball into the sky as it rocketed forth.

“And now, for part two of my master plan.” He grinned to himself as he quickly spun a second ball out of webbing, and tossed that towards the first one. The first ball bounced off of its web counterpart once he threw it, increasing its distance.

“Not bad.” Aizawa said simply, displaying Keiji’s score. It was at 706.4 metres.

“Yes!” He cheered, before turning and pointing towards Bakugou. “In your face, you-“ He gloated before Aizawa swiftly put a stop to it.

“Parker! No antagonising the other students.” He glared at him and Keiji shivered, before dashing back into line.

* * *

The rest of the test managed to pass without incident. There were no majorly impressive scores or causes for suspicion, Aizawa found. In a way, it was relieving to have nothing more that might cause him to have to use his quirk. His eyes were dry enough as it was.

On the other hand, by comparison to the rest of the test, this quiet end seemed… off somehow. It was too calm. He shrugged his shoulders as the students all gathered forwards to see their results. It was here that he made his decision on who would be removed from the class.

“Oh by the way, I was lying about expelling someone.” He called out as he displayed the results holographically.

* * *

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?!” Keiji covered his ears desperately as the class violently screeched in shock.

“Jeez, be mindful of the super-hearing, will you?!” He cried out. He was unsure if anyone else had heard him, but at least one person replied.

“Preach into the choir!” A girl with short dark blue hair, also clutching her ears replied to him. He looked towards her, and in that moment the two experienced a remarkable understanding. They nodded to one another silently as the class finally calmed themselves.

“It was just a logical ruse to bring out your best!” Aizawa called out with his trademark eerie grin. Keiji lowered his face into his hands.

“(Dammit, Uncle…)” He groaned in English so that none of the others would understand him. Aizawa shot him a look but didn’t comment.

“Of course it was a lie,” Keiji heard someone say. He looked over to see a mature looking girl raising an eyebrow at the rest of the class.

“I’m not so sure…” Keiji whispered to himself. Aizawa was hardly a person who resorted to bluffing often. Or at all, really. To him it was illogical to make such empty threats. Something must have caught Aizawa’s attention. Something that would make him go back on his word.

Keiji glanced towards Midoriya, who was told by Aizawa to visit the nurse’s office for his broken finger. He smiled as a realisation struck him.

He looked up at the results board, finding his name in the fifteenth spot. It was good to see that he hadn’t failed, but he still had a long way to go.

But first, he would have to rest. This day was rather stressful and tomorrow would not be any easier. Smiling to himself, he walked back into UA with the rest of the students.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At the time I wrote this chapter, it was the longest thing I had ever written. This story in particular always breaks those sorts of records with me. Most of the time it's fun, but sometimes it feels a bit like I have to stretch things out and keep forcing myself beyond my comfort zone. Though even that can be fun. 
> 
> Writing is a conflicting hobby, I find. 
> 
> But enough of me trying to sound deep, the chapter! I'm still pretty proud of this one. Every time I try to foreshadow someting, I always feel like I'm being too obvious, but I usually counter with the fact that as the writer, I already know what it's about, so that make things seem more obvious than they actually are. 
> 
> The lesson? Foreshadowing is tricky, and requires care. And maybe a little paranoia tempered with some level of sense. 
> 
> Also, my tumblr still exists! Feel free to check it out [Over here! Hello!](https://lordterronus.tumblr.com)
> 
> Oh, and one last thing - Keiji is Japanese-American, so he'll often speak in English at times, especially to himself since it's his first language. When he- or anyone else - is speaking english, that's indicated with brackets "(Like this!)". Also, I'm British, so if the American English is ever off, please correct me.


	5. All Tied Up - Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keiji tries to relax after a long first day, but an uninvited guest from the pasy worms its way back into his head, and he finds himself questioning all he thought he knew about both them and himself.

Walking out of UA after making it through his first day in the hero course and facing Aizawa’s trials was almost as satisfying as walking into the building. It was hard to describe, but after all of his training, and everything he had been through to make it here, it finally started to feel like he was progressing. Like he was on his way to truly becoming the next Spider-Man.

Plus, he had made a friend! That brought his total friend count up by a 100 percent increase! OK, so one to two still wasn’t _that_ impressive but it still counted. And that wasn’t even counting his online friends or anyone from the island. Did they count?

“Screw what mom says, online friends totally count.” He muttered to himself. Sure, he had never actually met any of his friends from the various hero forums he found himself lingering at regularly, but he still knew them more than most of the people in his class. That had to count for something, right?

As he thought deeply on the inner workings of his remarkably small social circle, he walked on towards the train station, looking up only to notice some familiar faces. He beamed.

“Iida, hey!”He called out, causing both the blue haired boy in question and his nervous green haired companion to turn around. Iida regarded him calmly, and for a moment Keiji thought he looked disapproving, but his voice thankfully relieved such concerns.

“Ah, Keiji. Good to see you. Midoriya and I were just on our way to the train station. Are you also heading this way?” He enquired kindly. Keiji nodded quickly.

“Yeah, I have to get back to Tokyo in an hour before my shift at work.” He replied kindly, before looking towards Midoriya. “Hi! I know we already met, but I’m Keiji Parker. Just call me Keiji.” He reached out a hand to shake. Midoriya’s eyes widened as he took it.

“Wait, you’re that weird waiter guy! From the Spider resteraunt!” He exclaimed. Keiji froze.

“Wait, ‘Weird’?! How was I weird?” He contested, annoyed.

“W-well, you kept talking to my mom instead of taking our order…”

“You looked sad! I was trying to lighten the mood!”

“Some food could have accomplished that.” Keiji groaned. Of course starting a conversation _before_ taking their order was the bad plan. Stupid!

“I have made the worst first impression… I’m so sorry!” He begged for forgiveness for his grievous error, something which only served to surprise Midoriya.

“N-no, it’s fine! Really, I-it doesn’t matter much…” Midoriya exclaimed in surprise. Keiji let out a sigh of relief.

“You sure?” Midoriya nodded towards him. “Alright, sorry about that. I’m just… pretty socially awkward.”

“I think I got that…” Midoriya nervously chuckled as they walked along, before something caught his attention.

“Wait, one of your eyes is different.” He pointed out. Keiji’s mismatched eyes widened in surprise. He had forgotten his contacts.

“(Shit!)” He muttered. He proceeded to look into his bag from the shoulder, desperately clawing for his contact. Upon finding the green contact, he hastily slotted it into position. He blinked a few times before turning back towards the others.

“No problem, good as new!” He exclaimed. Midoriya looked towards Iida, who gave a rather angular shrug in response. Keiji slouched. He supposed it was an odd detail to freak out over, but it still felt significant to him. His eyes being two different colors were easily the most noticeable trait on his face, and the first thought that entered someone’s head would inevitably be some variation of _“Weird eyes.”_ It affected everyone’s impression of him, even if it was subtle. It made him squirm in discomfort whenever anyone noticed.

“So, how’s your finger?” Keiji changed the subject. Midoriya smiled up at him.

“It’s fine now. Recovery Girl took care of it. I still feel a little tired though…” He muttered that last part to himself, but Keiji heard it just as clearly as everything else. He looked at his new second friend with concern.

“Are you sure? If you want, I can make a cast for it from my webs.” He offered, but Midoriya shook his head lightly.

“Thanks, but I’m fine.” Keiji wasn’t convinced, not with the bandages that still covered the finger. It didn’t appear to be swollen or red anymore, but the fact that it even was wrapped up was cause for concern.

“If you’re sure, I guess.” Keiji replied uncertainly. It was then that the next member of their growing group made themselves known.

“You three!” A female voice called out. Turning, Keiji noticed that it was the same girl who was protesting about the quirk test from earlier. She had also done exceptionally well on the ball throw, getting a score of infinity. He guessed that the latter would be more memorable.

“Ah, Infinity Girl.” Iida responded, unknowingly confirming Keiji’s theory. Keiji himself waved at her, whilst Midoriya simply looked shocked for a moment.

“I’m Ochako Uraraka!” She introduced herself enthusiastically. “Um, you’re Tenya Iida, Keiji Parker, and Midoriya… um… Deku, right?” She struggled briefly to get Midoriya’s name. Keiji raised an eyebrow at it.

“Just Keiji’s fine.” He replied calmly, while Midoriya had a less collected response.

“Deku?!” He cried in surprise.

“Is that not right? ‘Cause that’s what that Bakugou guy called you, right?” Uraraka looked confused as she replied, fearing she had messed up somehow. Based on his own first impressions to the group, he could sympathise.

“A-actually, my name is Izuku… ‘Deku’ is just a mean name from Kacchan.” Izuku murmured out. Uraraka’s eyes widened.

“A derogatory pet name then…” Iida muttered to himself thoughtfully. Keiji nodded in response. Still, he thought, Deku did sound at least a little catchy.

“Oh, gotcha! Sorry about that.” Uraraka apologised. She then came to a realisation. “Deku does sound nice though… It’s got a “do your best” kind of vibe. I like the sound of it!” She exclaimed. Keiji nodded at that. He knew it sounded good.

“Call me Deku!” Midoriya cried, seeming to pull a complete 180. Keiji looked at him in surprise while Iida proceeded to chastise him.

“Midoriya!” He cried out. “Show some backbone! It’s an insult, isn’t it?!”

“You have to admit, it is pretty catchy.” Keiji countered.

“It’s like a Copernican revolution.” Midoriya groaned into his hands.

“Coperni-who?” Uraraka questioned.

It was at this point, Keiji decided, that he had become friends with these people. He walked happily along with them off to the train station.

* * *

Keiji happily joined the group for another ten minutes, chatting away about the events of the day and just whatever came to mind. Unfortunately, their conversation was cut short when Keiji felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He brought it up and looked upon a small text message.

_“Aizawa: We need to talk. See me at UA ASAP.”_ It simply read. Keiji’s Uncle Aizawa was usually a man of few words. Keiji’s eyes widened as he read. He had almost forgotten about how he had to see his uncle.

“Sorry guys, I gotta run. Apparently Mr. Aizawa wants to see me.” Keiji explained, leaving out the detail of their ‘familial’ connection. Come to think of it, he had quite a few things he didn’t want to tell his new friends yet. He didn't exactly see himself as a secretive person, but he was often paranoid around other people. He had a bad habit of over-thinking how people might react.

“Wait, how does he know your phone number-?” Keiji panicked as Uraraka began to question him, and dashed off in a hurry.

“Sorry, but it’s important! I’ll explain later!” He cried back. In hindsight, he would eventually realise how this was the exact literal opposite way to avoid people thinking of you as weird or suspicious, but at the time, he simply panicked and ran off.

With his superhuman strength, it didn’t take him very long to get out from the train station. Before he went any further however, he decided to call his mother. The phone in his right hand rang briefly as he called before she eventually answered.

_“Keiji? I’m a little busy at the moment. What’s up?”_ He heard his mother’s voice, surrounded by the sounds of fryers, ovens and all kinds of kitchen noise. He smirked.

“Not much. I just thought I’d say I might be late for my next shift. Uncle Aizawa wants to talk to me. I won’t be too long, I promise.” He explained the situation quickly. His mother paused for a moment before replying.

_“Okay, but…”_ She paused for a moment. _“You’re sure that nothing’s wrong? You’re not hiding anything?”_ Keiji stopped for a moment. He supposed that it might be a good idea to tell her…

No, he decided. He didn’t need to worry her. She was already busy enough without fussing over him and his problems.

“No mom, I’m fine. I’m sure Uncle A just wants to go over the first day or whatever. I’m fine.” He lied. Well, he told himself, it wasn’t a total lie. Fine may have been a slight overstatement but there was nothing seriously wrong with him. At least, not at the moment.

His shaking hand disagreed. He tried to ignore it.

_“Okay then. Just… don’t take too long OK?”_ His mother sounded concerned, but did not try to push Keiji. He smiled in relief. 

“I won’t mom. I’ll be back before you know it. See you at home.” He said kindly, before hanging up. He stuffed his phone back into his pocket and walked onwards, heading to UA.

_“Your friends seem nice!”_ A voice in Keiji’s head chimed in. Keiji’s smirk turned into a harsh grimace as he continued onwards, ignoring it. He heard a disappointed sigh in his head. 

_“Oh come on! You know ignorance never works, right? I just wanna talk. Please?”_ The small voice seemed to plead. Keiji rolled his eyes, and he looked over to his right shoulder.

And right there, he saw a small spider sitting upon it, waving a single one of its long legs happily. Its beady black eyes looked at his face. He rolled his eyes once more.

“I’m not going to start a conversation with a hallucinated spider in an open public space. Go away before people think I’m crazy.” Keiji hissed under his breath, careful to do so as quietly as possible.

_“I think that ship sailed when you started hallucinating a talking spider on your shoulder, buddy.”_ It replied. Keiji sighed. As much as he hated it, the spider had a point.

The hallucinations had started shortly before his father’s death, but at first Keiji didn’t think much of them. When he was younger, he treated it like his imaginary friend. They would talk all the time, something that seemed fine to both him and his parents at first, but the latter started to grow concerned after a short while. Keiji ignored this, thinking they were freaking out over nothing.

Then things got worse.

The hallucinations grew more vivid, and the spider he talked to started to sound more hostile. It began trying to taunt him, and goad him into acting in strange ways. Soon, Keiji grew frightened of the image, and became more and more reclusive as a result, fearing that there was something seriously wrong with him. The day his father died turned out to be the final straw. He recalled the spider crawling down his arm, attaching webs as it went. He recalled seeing it slowly wrap his arm up in silk, before it reached down to his hand, and opened its mouth, and-

_“Hey, snap out of it!”_ It cried. Keiji had only just realised that he was shaking, his face pale as snow. He took a deep breath and began to calm himself. He focused on what was happening around him. People were pacing across the pavement. Two people were sat at a café just to his left, chatting. He could smell pastries from inside. He sensed all manner of normal things. He was fine. Everything was normal.

_“You OK now?”_ Ok, mostly normal. Aside from his imaginary sort-of friend. _“That’s good. You being scared makes me scared, and I don’t like-”_

“What are you even doing here? Why now?” Keiji cut it off. His tone was stern, but not fully hostile. The imaginary arachnid wasn’t aggressive, so he would act the same.

_“Honestly? No idea. I’m as confused as you are.”_ Its response shocked Keiji. _“I mean, I like being here. It’s better than being stuck in a corner somewhere. But it is a little… concerning.”_ It continued. Keiji scoffed.

“Really? _You’re_ concerned? How do you think I feel?!” He raised his voice slightly. It was still quiet enough for him to not be noticed much, but he saw a boy next to him briefly look his way before looking away. The spider on his shoulder lowered itself slightly.

“I get that this is freaky for you too.” The spider said apologetically. “This is pretty freaky. But I just wanted to say that I’m not your enemy. I don’t want to do anything to you.” The spider attempted to reassure Keiji. He could firmly say that it had no effect.

“That’s not how this went before. You hurt me-” His counter argument was cut off by an abrupt screech in his mind.

_“THAT HURT ME TOO!”_ The spider screamed at him. Unlike before, the spider didn’t sound quite as friendly, but also not aggressive. The sound of its voice actually startled Keiji into a stop.

It sounded scared. No, terrified.

_“I hated that as much as you! I never wanted to do that. I never wanted to hurt anyone! I swear!”_ It pleaded with him, sounding as though it was on the verge of tears. _“I don’t know what happened that time either! One minute I was fine, and the next I felt so angry, and hungry and I panicked, and, and-”_ Keiji interrupted its ranting.

“Okay, Okay. Calm down. You’re freaking me out more than usual.” He joked quietly. He had no doubt that were spiders- imaginary or not- capable of smiling, his hallucination would have worn a small grin on its face.

_“Thanks. This is just really weird.”_ It said quietly. Keiji nodded.

“Tell me about it. How about we talk about it later?” He reasoned. Neither of them were seemingly in a good state of mind. The mere fact that Keiji was imagining talking spiders was enough to confirm this, but his hallucination panicking itself really hammered the point home. And since Keiji couldn’t think of a way to actually get rid of it, he supposed he just had to deal with it another time.

_“You mean it…?"_ The spider sounded nervous, fearing Keiji was simply saying this to force it away. Keiji nodded firmly to assure it that he was being honest. It practically cheered.

_“Thank you so much! I promise I’ll be quiet until then. You won’t even notice me.”_ It said happily. Keiji glanced away and then back to his right shoulder again. He could faintly make out the outline of the spider, but it seemed to have mostly vanished for the moment. He sighed in relief.

“I miss my pills…” he groaned as he trudged onwards to UA. Despite all of the questions that now floated through his head, only one thing stood out to him as certain.

Aizawa could _not_ find out about this.

* * *

Aizawa was a fairly patient individual, and as such the rather long amount of time his nephew was taking to reach him was of little concern. Chances are he had almost made it to train station before remembering their earlier arrangement to have a chat. He decided to use the time productively, going over some initial paperwork he had to take care of.

He had managed to get through about two thirds of his work before he heard a knock on his office door. “Come in.” He simply said. A moment later, the door seemed to slowly be pulled open, revealing a rather nervous looking Keiji Parker.

“Hey Uncle Aizawa. Do you have a minute?” Keiji hesitantly spoke, looking at Aizawa sitting at his desk. “I mean, you do look a little busy…” He added. Aizawa shook his head.

“It’s fine. I’m almost finished anyway. You wanted to talk to me earlier?” Aizawa pushed. Keiji had never been the most open of people and Aizawa knew that if he had gave in and let Keiji leave at this moment, he was unlikely to ever get around to addressing whatever was bothering him.

“A-ah, yeah.” Keiji scratched the back of his head, looking sheepish. “Before I say anything, please don’t get mad.” He pleaded. Aizawa raised an eyebrow. It was hardly uncommon knowledge that he was not the most emotional of people. Even in regards to his family – biological or otherwise – he rarely ever found himself losing his temper. For Keiji to be worried about his reaction, this had to be something big.

“You have my word; I will not get mad at you. What is the problem?” He reassured Keiji before pushing him once more to get the issue out. Keiji took a deep breath before saying anything.

“I may have, possibly, sort of, kinda…” Keiji stalled further. Aizawa glared at him briefly.

“Keiji…” He warned. As much as he didn’t want to cause his nephew any further distress, he had work to do, and didn’t have time for such games.

“(I ran out of pills!)” Keiji finally blurted out, switching back to his English in shock. He seemed to flinch as the words came out, appearing almost fearful of Aizawa’s reaction. Aizawa simply stared.

“Is that all?” Aizawa replied with a slightly unnerving calm in his voice. Keiji opened his eyes which he had clenched shut, and raised an eyebrow, calming himself slowly.

“You-You’re not mad?” He nervously asked. Aizawa simply nodded his head. “Phew. I was really worried about that.”

“That’s a relief. Sorry to add more work for you, but do you think you could -?” Aizawa smirked lightly and cut off his nephew.

“I should be able to get more for you. But it might take a while. A week or two, if I had to guess.” Aizawa answered. The treatments for his nephew’s rather unusual condition were not actively produced in Japan, and as such had to be imported from America. It was then that he came to a realisation.

“More importantly, have you been experiencing any side effects? You seemed a little off at the test today.” He enquired. Keiji glanced briefly towards his right shoulder, and Aizawa took note of it.

“I don’t think so. I _feel_ okay. They only ran out a few days ago, so I should be fine for at least a little while…” Keiji’s words seemed reassuring, causing Aizawa to breathe a sigh of relief. He could tell that he was hiding something, but Aizawa guessed that it was nothing major; otherwise he knew Keiji would have mentioned it. He wasn’t an open person, but he understood the importance of this, and was unlikely to hide anything important after Aizawa had already reassured him. However, there was still something that had him concerned.

“In that case, what happened with the test?” He noticed Keiji shrink back a little. “By all accounts, you should have done better.” He continued.

“Sorry about that. I-I just wanted to be cautious, you know? I didn’t want to risk going too far…” He half-muttered, sounding ashamed. Aizawa sighed yet again. Keiji still didn't appear to be being entirely honest with him, but his explanation was reasonable enough that it didn't warrant further questions.

For now, at least. He made a note to take some safety precautions for the next few days.

“Your concern isn’t illogical, but you can’t afford to act like that in UA.” He spoke calmly, though with some degree of sternness. He couldn’t coddle his nephew here. “If you hold back so much, if you let this fear stop you, then you won’t be able to survive the hero course. It’s harsh, but that’s the reality. You have to go all out in the future.” He explained.

“I know. I’m sorry, sir.” Keiji bowed his head as he apologised.

“I’ll let it go this once, but you have to do better. I suppose lowering your test score will serve as enough punishment.” Keiji’s eyes widened as Aizawa confessed something.

“I thought my rank looked low…” He muttered in surprise. Aizawa nodded to him.

“You thought correctly. In theory, you should have been in the top ten of every event. However,” His tone briefly grew harsh. “I’m not going to reward someone slacking in my class. It’s cruelty to allow someone to half-ass their ambitions.” Keiji flinched at the sudden harshness, but accepted his uncle’s words.

“I understand. I promise I’ll do better in future.” Keiji announced to him in response. Aizawa showed a small smirk.

“See that you do. You’re going to have to for what comes tomorrow.” He said ominously. Keiji tilted his head, but decided not to question it.

“Oh, and before you go, I should probably mention that the staff at UA have all been made aware of your… _condition_. If you ever have any problems-”

“I appreciate the concern, but trust me. I’ll be fine.” Keiji cut off Aizawa. Before Aizawa could continue, Keiji looked down at his watch and his eyes widened. “Crap, that long?!” He said to himself before looking up to Aizawa.

“Sorry, I gotta go. Any later and I could miss my shift!” He exclaimed. Aizawa nodded briefly, letting him know he could leave, whereupon Keiji dashed out of the room. Aizawa smirked slightly before getting back to his work. He could only hope that his nephew didn’t get into any trouble like this tomorrow.

Unbeknownst to him, his hopes would hardly hold true…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The introduction of our newest character! I have a habit of giving my characters someone to talk to in their heads, and Kumo continues the strange, probably-should-ask-a-therapist-about tradition. You'll have probably noticed his small cameo last chapter - that was actually slightly different in the FF.net version. I altered the line to fit better with his current state. 
> 
> I've got a lot of plans involving him, but I won't get into those. Don't want to ruin the surprises. 
> 
> Overall, this chapter came out pretty good. It's more dialogue based than I was used to when I wrote it, but honestly I'd say that's for the best. As you'll find out next time, I'm not that good with action scenes. We all have our weak-spots. 
> 
> Also, just a reminder that I'm still on tumblr and can be found [Right around here! Hello!](https://lordterronus.tumblr.com)


	6. The Weaver

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keiji finds himself kept up at night by burning questions that he needs to ask his new 'friend'. Unfortunately, a moment of peace seems like too much to ask!

Keiji couldn’t sleep.

It had been hours since he had gotten back to his home after his somewhat intense discussion with Aizawa, and even longer since he had discovered his old imaginary friend was suddenly back and acting as though it had never left. Said imaginary friend took the form a small spider that remained perched upon Keiji’s right shoulder, also restless. Keiji simply laid there, alone with his thoughts.

_“Well, not quite.”_ The spider chimed in. Keiji looked at it for a moment, and nodded. Indeed, he supposed he wasn’t quite alone. He somehow doubted he would be alone for very long at all in the future.

“So, you wanted to talk, right? So let’s talk.” Keiji spoke quietly. It was past midnight, so he knew his mother would be asleep by now. He sat up in his bed and looked over to his shoulder. As he thought, the spider was just as clear to see in the moonlit room as it was the fresh daylight. It was unsettling how it seemed to escape the shadows so effortlessly.

_“Here? I mean, I don’t mind, but I’d rather not have us both freak out and disturb mama-”_ Keiji cut the spider off. 

“ _My_ mom. You’re just some… thing I dreamed up one day, so you don’t get to talk like that!” He lost his cool briefly, his voice rising. The spider gestured its front legs as though they were hands, raising and lowering them in a calming manner.

_“Calm down, Ma- I mean, your mama will hear us! Do you wanna explain who you’re talking to now?! At midnight?!”_ The spider worriedly hissed at him. Keiji bit back a sharp response and took a deep breath.

“You’re right. There’s no way we won’t wake her staying here.” Keiji agreed. Whilst his unwilling companion was more cooperative, Keiji had little patience for a hallucination of his. Its mere presence unsettled him. Combine that with his tiredness and he wasn’t sure he could deal with this at all, let alone at his home.

“Let’s go out for a walk. Clear our – er, my head. Man, this is weird.” He decided. The spider tilted its head slightly. 

_“But if we head out, won’t it wake her up?”_ The spider questioned. Keiji grinned at it. 

“Not if we don’t use the front door.” He replied. Without warning, he leapt up, doing a front flip onto his roof and latching on to the surface. The sound was surprisingly soft, with his hands and feet adhering to the surface almost instantly. The spider let out a shocked gasp as he crawled along to the large window facing the side of his building. He carefully raised the window just large enough, and proceeded to crawl his way out through to the side.

_“This is so cool!!”_ The spider gushed. Keiji raised a finger to his lips, and softly shushed it.

“Calm down. I don’t have a license for this like in New York, so I have to keep us out of sight. Or me out of sight. Ugh, this is confusing.” He groaned. He leapt quickly over to the building on the other side, and hastily climbed up to its roof. Once there, he perched atop a ventilation unit that sat in the corner of the roof.

“You are right though,” Keiji grinned. “It is really cool!”

The two of them sat upon the rooftop for several minutes before either spoke again. Keiji warily scanned the area around them, paranoid about a hero or the police finding them. Fortunately, Keiji appeared to be alone save for his imaginary companion. He let out a sigh of relief, and looked back over to the spider, which appeared to be mimicking his watchfulness by jumping around his shoulder for a better view.

“So,” Keiji coughed out, drawing the spider’s attention. “Do you have a name? ‘Cause calling you ‘The Spider’ is just kind of annoying.” The spider raised up one its legs to what Keiji assumed was supposed to be its chin, seeming to mimic a more human thinking position. Keiji looked at it strangely as it raised its leg in realisation.

_“How about Kumo?”_ It exclaimed happily. Keiji nodded. It was hardly the most creative name, but it was fitting. Plus, when he thought about it, he wasn’t much better. Spider-Man was hardly very original, even without the fact that it was a pre-existing name. Keiji relaxed upon the rooftop as the two began to speak more seriously.

“What was all that stuff about earlier? What did you mean when you said it hurt you too?” Keiji wondered aloud. Kumo’s eyes looked confused as he looked at Keiji.

“What?”

_“Keiji… how much do you remember, about that day?”_ Kumo asked nervously. Keiji stilled before answering.

“I…” He began. “I’m not sure. I remember you sounding threatening, then we went out to a park…” He tried to recount that day. The night Peter Parker died. All things considered, it should have been one of, if not the most memorable experience of his life. However, whenever he tried to remember, his mind went blank. Every time he tried to grasp at the scene, it seemed to push itself further away. He tried again to think back to that day.

“I think… were we having a picnic?” Keiji asked Kumo, who nervously nodded in response. Or, Keiji felt that he nodded. Spider anatomy never lent itself well to gestural communication.

“It’s all pretty much a blur after that.” He finally conceded. “I remember something green, which I guess must have been the Goblin, but... I have no idea. The next thing I remember is waking up in a hospital room. A day later, I think. That’s when I found out about…. A-about what happened.” He stopped himself. He had said enough. Tears threatened to come out from his eyes, but he held them back.

He was _not_ going to cry in front of a hallucination.

_“I see.”_ Kumo mumbled. Keiji had a sudden thought and his head quickly whipped around to the spider on his shoulder, his eyes locked into a harsh glare.

“Wait, how much do you remember about that? Because it sure doesn’t sound the same as my account from what you’re saying. How does that even work? You shouldn’t remember anything more than I do. You’re just a figment of my mind, so how -?!” Keiji frantically rambled. Anything that could have been said in response was cut off by a sudden scream from below. Keiji leapt up onto his feet and Kumo examined their surrounding alerted.

_“That didn’t sound far from here!”_ Kumo called. Keiji nodded in response.

“Should we – er, I check it out?” He asked. It was strange how much he had adapted to pluralising himself in such a short time.

_“Of course! Do you even need to ask?!”_ Kumo shouted. Keiji moved his head to the left in surprise.

“Okay, Okay. No need to get all antsy.” Keiji grumbled to himself. He hesitated briefly, but quickly started running from the rooftop. With his momentum, he let loose a line of webbing to swing across. With a leap, he swung off recklessly, throwing himself into the unknown. He grinned widely. Perhaps this was not the safest course of action, or the most legal…

But it was certainly the coolest.

* * *

Finding where the scream had come from didn’t take very long. It was hardly very far. In fact, Keiji thought, he probably didn’t even need to use his web swinging to reach there.

_“It was really fun though!”_ Kumo chimed in. Keiji brushed his shoulder lightly, telling it to be quiet. He couldn’t disagree, though. Using his powers more openly would _never_ stop being incredible. However, they had to focus.

Keiji looked down from another rooftop, and observed carefully. The scream had come from a young woman – probably in her mid to late twenties, he guessed – who was being pushed into an alleyway by an aggressive man. The man looked somewhat strange. He had a series of silver dots that bulged outwards from his head instead of hair, and he had a wisp of ginger hair on his chin. His fingers seemed to finish at small tubes, also silver in colour, which had small holes in them.

“Looks like some kind of gun based Quirk… Not good.” Keiji muttered under his breath. Kumo looked scared.

_“What should we do? I didn’t see any heroes on the way here…”_ It nervously asked. Keiji responded quickly. 

“I say we call Uncle Aizawa. I’m pretty sure he lives nearby anyway.” He replied in a whisper. His eyes glared harshly at the man pushing the woman further into the alley. The man wore a manic expression on his head.

_“Are you sure? What if that man kills her before he can get here? Or if Aizawa’s still asleep. It is still really late. Or early, depending on how you look at it.”_ Kumo briefly lost its train of thought before shaking its head. _“Regardless, we have to do something!”_ He cried out. Keiji wanted to disagree, but he knew Kumo was right. Calling Aizawa was not an efficient solution. He had to do something quickly. 

“I know,” He conceded. “But it’s still illegal to intervene, so-” Kumo interrupted Keiji’s concerns.

_“Swinging over here was illegal, and we did that anyway!”_ It cried out. Keiji stopped. Kumo did have a point. _“I know it’s risky, but if we do nothing, someone could die! We can’t just stand by!”_ Keiji agreed for the most part, but still hesitated. Kumo spoke once more.

_“What did your Papa always say?”_

“With great power there must come great responsibility.” Keiji muttered out, annoyed to be beaten. He stood up on the rooftop.

“Since we’re doing this, I’ll need a mask.” He muttered. His mind raced in a panic as he considered how to hide his face. His options were limited and time was running out, so he raised his arm to his face.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this to myself on purpose…” He groaned mentally before he shot a small blast of webbing into his face. He stumbled back briefly, before tearing himself some eye holes and poking some holes for his nose. He guessed that he looked awful, but now was hardly the time for such thoughts.

Now was the time to act.

* * *

Gin Dangan leered at his prey, blocking her path and forcing her into the alley. His sharp teeth and silver head shone in the moonlight and he cackled menacingly.

“Alright, that’s far enough.” His shrill voice rang out through the alley. His prey whimpered. He rolled his eyes. They were always so annoying when they were scared.

“Hand it over.” His voice lowered and he loomed over her, raising his hand. His prey swapped out her terrified sobs for a confused glance.

“H-huh?” She quietly exclaimed. Gin rolled his eyes yet again. What, was everyone in Tokyo this dumb?! 

His last two preys certainly were. That was why he had to kill them. They refused to understand.

“Your money, your possessions, your wallet. Hand it all over or I blow your brains out!” He hissed at her. The prey stumbled back, but before Gin could get her to listen, they were interrupted by a sudden sound from behind. He listened as someone landed down with a thump.

It must have been a hero. Just his luck. He cursed, and sharply turned, shooting whoever was there. His blood red eyes glared at them. They were shorter than he expected, and wore what looked to be some dark blue T-shirt and jeans. Their face was obscured, in a rather odd manner, as they seemingly wore a mask made of tiny string.

The hero charged forth, and at the last second, swerved to the right of the shot and batted it with his hand. The large silver projectile lodged itself into a wall. Gin‘s glare switched to a look of utter shock.

“What the fuck even are you?!” He exclaimed as he attempted to fire off some more shots. The hero continued to dodge the shots, seeming to leap and duck and spin and turn around them with alarming ease. Their flexibility was like that of a gymnast and it wasn’t long before they were close enough to attack.

A sharp punch to gut caused Gin to stumble back. Their strength was freakish, seeming to knock him back rather far.

“Let her go.” The hero spoke for the first time. Their voice was deep and low, possibly caused by the mask. The hero glared with mismatched eyes at Gin. He cackled madly into the night sky.

“Oh yeah? Or what? You’ll hit me again? Try and I blow the bitch to pieces.” He screeched back at the little hero, turning one of his hands towards the woman, who was now looking rather terrified. Gin frowned at her. Fear still pissed him off.

“(Shit!)” The little hero seemed to mutter something under his breath and raised his hand towards Gin. The gesture was odd but before he cold question it, he felt something stick to his leather coat.

“What the-?” He tried to say, before he was sharply pulled towards the little hero. Once close enough, the little hero delivered an uppercut, slamming his fist into Gin’s head. His eyes rolled back and he fell unconscious.

* * *

Keiji looked down at the thuggish man he had just stopped with a look of disappointment hidden behind his improvised mask. Whilst he did succeed in his goal, he hated the fact that he had to use his webbing. Super strength and agility were far less identifiable than spider silk shot from his arms.

_“Well, it worked didn’t it?”_ Kumo added. Keiji couldn’t disagree, and similarly could not say confidently that it was enough to make him regret his decision. He turned his attention towards the young woman who was being threatened. He walked calmly towards her, though it clearly did nothing to calm her nerves. She appeared to be shaking against the wall behind them.

“Hey, are you OK?” Keiji simply asked. The woman seemed to calm down slightly at his friendly tone. Keiji smiled behind his mask.

“Y-yes.” The woman said quietly. Keiji nodded, before looking back at the thug, who was now lying on the ground.

“I’m going to restrain him. Could you call the police and explain what happened?” Keiji calmly asked. The woman, now finally stopping in her shaking, nodded. Keiji moved back to the man and crouched down near his hands. He attempted to disguise his use of his webbing by pretending to set up small nets around the man’s hands. Idly, he noticed that some of the sliver objects from the man’s head were gone, showing off the tiniest pieces of ginger hair.

“So he fires these bullet things from his head through his hands?” Keiji speculated on how exactly the man’s Quirk functioned. Kumo tapped its legs impatiently on his shoulder.

_“Not to interrupt your analysis, but we should really be getting out of here.”_ Kumo reminded him. Keiji agreed and moved towards a wall in order to make his escape. He was stopped by the woman suddenly calling out to him.

“Wait!” She called. Keiji glanced towards her. She seemed to have gotten off the phone and was now similarly ready to leave for the police station, or at least he assumed that was where she was going. “What should I call you?” She continued.

Keiji paused for a moment. He hadn’t given any thought to a name. This was, after all, a spur of the moment decision. He couldn’t use his real name for obvious reasons, and anything spider related would be a dead giveaway as to his identity.

_“I think I have an idea…”_ Kumo helpfully supplied. Keiji tipped his head slightly towards his right shoulder and listened. As Kumo gave his suggestion, Keiji mouthed ‘Really?’ under his mask. However, he lacked anything else to call himself, so he supposed it would have to do.

“Call me... The Weaver.” He said quickly. Before the woman could reply, he leapt up and sprinted up the wall. The woman seemed to watch him in surprise.

“I knew I should have brought my camera.” The woman muttered from below as Keiji ran off into the night.

* * *

“‘The Weaver’? Seriously?” Keiji grinned down at his companion, who looked rather sheepish. The two were yet again sitting upon a rooftop. In this case, however, Keiji simply needed to catch his breath before heading back home. He didn’t know exactly how long he had been out, but it certainly felt like it was at least a half hour. Regardless, he was tired.

_“I panicked! And you didn’t have any better ideas.”_ Kumo complained back at him. Keiji let out a brief chuckle which quickly grew into a full blown bout of laughter. Kumo simply stared at him.

_“So, if this is you going even crazier, do I get a roommate?”_ Kumo joked. Keiji managed to calm himself after a few minutes, before finally responding.

“Sorry about that. It’s just…” Keiji hesitated. “That was fun!” He exclaimed after a pause. “The mask, the saving people, the powers… I just forgot how much _fun_ it really was.” He finished. Kumo listened intently.

_“Then, maybe we should consider doing this more?”_ The spider seemed pleading as he proposed an idea. Keiji hesitated. Before tonight, he would have quickly dismissed this as just another attempt of manipulation from the spider like the ones from his past. However, now he thought differently.

In this instance, he had only been encouraged into something he had actually wanted to do. He couldn’t deny that he had wanted to save that woman, nor could he deny that the idea of doing similar heroic acts in future appealed to him. Becoming a hero professionally was certainly the end goal, but in doing so, he was limiting his ability to help.

“Maybe…” Keiji muttered under his breath. He sighed shortly after.

It would seem that he had a lot to sleep on.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Complete honesty? This whole chapter was based around a last minute idea. I've had plenty of ideas on how to integrate it into the overall story, but it might still feel just a little out of place. I still think it came out pretty good though, despite my admitted lack of skill in terms of action scenes. Can't get wbetter without practice right? 
> 
> The moral of this little not is thus - Be careful with your story's ideas, but don't let that stop you from experimenting. Sometimes you can only figure out how to work with things once you put them together. 
> 
> Maybe a slightly confusing lesson, but I'm not a teacher. I'm just a fanfic writer- who also happens to have a tumblr you can find here! [ Over here! ](https://lordterronus.tumblr.com)


	7. The Calm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keiji hopes to manage to get through the whole day without any problems, but there's a strange dread in the air as gohsts from the past continue to push him. Oh, and it's also time for battle training. 
> 
> Damn it.

To say that Keiji had experienced a hard time sleeping would be the understatement of the century. In truth, he didn’t think he had gotten much over a couple hours rest, if that.

_“Certainly a big IF… Sorry.”_ Keiji’s newest companion, Kumo, mumbled in his head. The small spider was perched upon his right shoulder, appearing rather sheepish. That was an impressive feat given its arachnid anatomy.

“(S’fine…)” Keiji groaned out lazily in his native tongue. It was hardly as though he _normally_ slept well, anyway. After managing to crawl his way out of bed, he heaved his body into his school uniform. Seeing Kumo simply phase through his clothing was certainly an unusual sight. For now, Keiji resigned himself to it. He had no idea how to get rid of his unexpected partner in crime, and he had lacked any time to think of any solutions.

After all, on his way home, he had to stop three more muggings and a midnight robbery. All the while keeping his webs glued onto his face for a mask and introducing himself as ‘The Weaver’. He sighed.

He’d have to work on the name. As well as his schedule, if this was going to become normal. His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden knocking on his door.

“Keiji? Breakfast is ready. Hope you like bacon and eggs!” His mother called. He smiled. Whilst things were looking very uncertain for him and seemed as though they would stay that way, there was one thing he could always count on.

His mother made the _best_ breakfasts.

* * *

“Are you alright?” Keiji’s mother’s first words upon seeing him came as a surprise. He supposed he must have looked more tired than he thought. A small chuckle escaped his mouth.

“Wow. Good morning to you too, mom.” He replied with a tone of mock offense. His mother smirked.

“Very funny. But seriously, you are ok, right? You don’t look so good.” The concern in her voice stopped Keiji for a second.

Well, that or the bacon in his mouth. He swallowed.

“That bad, huh? I’m fine. I just… didn’t sleep too well last night, that’s all.” Keiji explained. His mother frowned at him.

“Oh, honey.” She placed her mug of coffee down on the kitchen counter. “Nightmares again?” She asked.

This was hardly the first time this topic had come up. Keiji had always had frequent nightmares and the death of his father, as well as his health problems, had only increased the problem. He experienced them practically every time he fell asleep, and even though they weren’t the cause of his tiredness, this day was still no exception.

“Yeah.” He sighed. “They really were less scary, though! I think all that stress from UA must’ve tired out my brain or something.”

_“Or maybe it was some other stress? Maybe from last night? Eh?”_ Kumo added briefly. He looked to be nudging Keiji lightly. Keiji decided to ignore him for now. Instead, he made his best efforts to focus on his breakfast. As he expected from his mother’s cooking, it was perfect. Were he less civilised, he would probably be drooling.

_“A shame I can’t taste anything…”_ Kumo continued to interject. Keiji raised an eyebrow for a moment. Suddenly, in his tired mind, a brilliant idea appeared.

He rose up the next piece of bacon to his mouth, before ‘accidentally’ dropping it. He fumbled to pick it up, before somehow managing to get the bacon to slip off from his fork and land on his right shoulder.

_“…Um, I’m still incorporeal…”_ And like that, Keiji’s plan had unravelled. _“B-but I appreciate the idea!”_

“(Sorry…)” Keiji mumbled a quick apology. He must’ve been more out of it than he thought.

“Keiji? Keiji!” His mother cut in, he refocused, finding her looking at him with a small frown.

“Ah, sorry about that. I must’ve zoned out for a sec. Where were we?” He asked. His mother frowned at him for a moment longer before sighing.

“You were telling me about your nightmare, I think. Honestly, you’re more absent-minded than your father.” She shook her head.

“Heh, I’ll take that a compliment. Or maybe…” Keiji reached for a bottle of ketchup. “Maybe I’ll take it as a _condiment_.” 

_“…Of course…”_ Kumo placed the ends of one of his arms on his face. Keiji chuckled.

Screw the imaginary spider, he was hilarious. His mother seemed to agree, letting out a small chuckle of her own.

“Very funny. But back on topic,” Keiji’s face fell. “Tell me about this nightmare of yours.”

“I-it’s really no big deal…” Keiji tried. Unfortunately for him, his mother was more stubborn than he was sometimes.

“Of course it is. An employee of mine is in a poor state-” She raised her hand before Keiji could add that he was still fine. “And this could impact their performance. I cannot have my staff acting up at the restaurant.” She explained. Keiji looked uncertain.

“Also…” His mother began, before wrapping her arms around him.

“You’re my _son_. I care about you. I want you to be happy. I want you to be okay.” She spoke softly. Keiji looked at the floor. He felt… guilty.

He didn’t… He didn’t _deserve_ this…

“Ok… I’ll tell you about it.” He finally said. His mother took a seat next to him. Keiji took a breath.

“It was pretty much the same…” He began, tightly clutching the glass of water by his plate. “We were all together… at a park, I think. Then, you and Dad just… fell away.” His voice became strained. His nightmares were never pleasant, though this one in particular was more disturbing than most, though it was not exactly scary. He just had no idea why.

“After that, I was strapped into a big web. In the gaps there were these… blurry images. I-I couldn’t make any of them out but… they seemed _important_ somehow. Then, the whole thing started to fill with red. I felt something on my right arm,” Keiji placed his hand on the arm in question. “Turned out to be a swarm of spiders. Let me tell you, that’s _not_ an image you want to wake up from.” Keiji shuddered. He let out a long sigh in an attempt to steady himself.

After all, this was relatively tame compared to his _usual_ nightmares.

“S-sorry. I’m just still kind of freaked out by it. It was less scary than normal but… I dunno, it just bothers me somehow… Like, I’m missing something but I just can’t tell what it is!” Keiji threw his hands up in frustration. “I guess I’m just over-thinking it. Know what I mean?” He finally turned his attention back onto his mother.

She was pale, her hands on her mouth and her eyes wide.

“Uh, Mom?” Keiji felt more uneased than he had after the nightmare itself. “Are you OK? You’re starting to worry me…” He nervously asked.

“I-I’m… I’m fine, Kei. Just fine.”A blatant lie, he knew. Then again, he supposed he lacked any position to judge. “Why don’t you finish breakfast and head off to school? If you don’t hurry you’ll be late.” Keiji opened his mouth to argue, but it slammed shut as he saw the clock.

“(Shit, It’s been _that_ long?! I’ll miss the train!)” He slipped into English in his astonishment. He rushed down the remainder of his breakfast before offering his mother one final hug.

“I’ve gotta run, bye Mom!” and with that, he rushed to the exit and sprinted for the train station.

“Bye, Keiji!” His mother shouted back at him. He paused for a moment to give her a brief thumbs-up before continuing.

* * *

Rita Akita-Parker let out a long sigh. It was reassuring to hear that Keiji was okay, but hearing and knowing were very clearly different things.

Her first clue was his tiredness – Even at his worst nightmares, Keiji had never seemed so worn out before. No, there must’ve been something more active going on for him to be so lacking in energy.

Her second clue was his nightmare – Whilst bearing some similarities to what little she had managed to hear regarding his past terrors, this one contained a few very specific details. Namely, the location.

Keiji had never mentioned the park before. Not even to Peter, who was usually the one he would go to first with his problems.

Her third clue was the cuts. He had fresh cuts on his hands. Very small ones, certainly not enough to cause any level of concern. Based on his actions, she hardly suspected that he had noticed them at all.

But there was one final clue that put all of these disparate pieces together, one last detail that revealed the reasons behind all of this.

Rita went back inside, feeling the empty pill bottle move within her pockets. She took a small glance at it, focusing on the text on the handmade label.

_‘OMS Medication’_

* * *

“Whew… I made it…!” Keiji sighed as he looked to the train station. Glancing at his watch revealed that he had to wait another ten minutes for the next train, but fortunately, that would still leave him with _just_ enough time to make it to class on schedule.

As long as he ran at full speed into the classroom, that is.

“Parker?” Keiji jumped upon hearing a familiar voice. Turning to face them, he found his friend Tenya. Or, Iida, he thought. Even after so long, he still never wrapped his head around referring to people by their last names in Japan.

“Iida? I told you, just call me Keiji.” He replied nervously. He still wasn’t used to… well, talking to people much. The only friends he regularly talked with were ones he rarely saw. They lived very far away, and Keiji had very little opportunities to see them in person. This was partly why he spent so much of his free time (Which, admittedly, wasn’t much time at all) online.

“Ah, of course. My apologies. It must have slipped my mind in the rush to get here.” Iida explained. Keiji nodded in understanding.

“You’re running late too? No offence, but that doesn’t seem very like you.” Keiji commented. He quickly realised his mistake, however. “N-not that I’ve known you for very long maybe this is normal for you I just wasn’t expecting it but that’s probably my fault for setting weird expectations of people I barely know That’s probably pretty rude I am so sorry I-” Iida cut off his sudden and rushed apology.

“It’s perfectly fine. No need to act so nervous.” Iida interrupted. Keiji winced.

“Sorry. I’m… kinda _really_ socially awkward.” He apologised. Iida seemed to smile slightly, seemingly amused.

“I believe I already figured that out before.” Keiji slapped his hand to his face.

“ _(Of course, I told him and Deku that yesterday. God, I’m bad at this.)_ ” He berated himself mentally. Kumo proceeded to attempt to rub against his neck in a comforting gesture. Were he real, it would have doubtless been much more effective.

_“Stay calm. I believe in you!”_ Kumo encouraged. Keiji fought to stop his eyes from rolling. The faith of an imaginary spider was not something he felt was particularly reassuring.

“Pardon my asking,” Keiji’s thoughts were interrupted as Iida spoke again. “But are you alright? You seem worse for wear. Did something happen?” Keiji was surprised. His mother noticing his tiredness was one thing – she was the most perceptive person he knew, even without her Quirk – but Iida noticing as well must have meant he looked a lot worse than he had initially thought.

“Huh, twice in one day. I must _really_ look bad, huh?” Keiji joked. Iida seemed to hesitate, no doubt assuming it would be rude to answer honestly. “Don’t worry about me, I’m fine. I just had trouble sleeping, that’s all.” He brushed it off. Iida seemed to relax.

“I see. I happened to also struggle with getting to bed last night. What kept you up?” Iida replied, shocking Keiji momentarily. Iida certainly didn’t look very tired, unlike Keiji, who apparently looked like crap.

“Eh, nothing unusual. Just nightmares again.” Keiji explained. Iida seemed concerned once more as he replied.

“Again? Are nightmares common for you?” Iida enquired. Keiji raised an eyebrow at him.

“Yeah, I’ve had them since I was four. It’s really nothing to worry about. Especially this time. It was a surprisingly tame night for me.” He attempted to relieve his friend’s concern. Iida seemed to frown at him, but Keiji felt the tension in the air was lessened somewhat.

“I see. I can’t say that this is not worrying, but-”

“I’m fine, Iida. Really! Trust me, there’s no point worrying about me.” Keiji interrupted. Iida seemed surprised, but quickly recomposed himself. He cleared his throat.

“Of course. My apologies. I suppose you _sound_ perfectly fine.” Iida said rather stiffly. Keiji felt a rush of guilt. He was supposed to be making his friend feel at ease, not upsetting him!

Honestly, why was he so bad with people?! It was his job to talk to people, and he was fine at work. Why was he so bad here?!

“So…” Keiji attempted. “What about you? What kept you up?” He asked. Iida seemed pleased with the change of subject and eagerly responded.

“How could I sleep?!” He practically yelled. “Today is the day our hero training truly begins! Furthermore, we get to work with the number one hero! I was so excited I could hardly wait!” He proclaimed, whilst making a series of oddly stiff yet enthusiastic gestures. His excitement caught Keiji rather off-guard.

“Wait, that’s today? Man, I almost forgot…” He replied, startled. Iida seemed visibly taken aback.

“How could you forget? What could possibly be so distracting as to make one forget about something so significant?” Iida replied. Keiji began to sweat uncomfortably.

“We can’t tell him about what we were really doing last night, so what’s the plan?” Kumo only added to Keiji’s brief burst of anxiety. Fortunately, he was spared from needing a better excuse for his forgetfulness by the arrival of their train.

“Oh, would you look at that? We better get going now or we’ll be too late!” Keiji practically jumped at the opportunity to escape this moment, rushing over to the train quickly. Iida quickly followed suit, but they were separated as they got on due to the large crowd. He sighed in relief.

“(That really could have gone better…)” Keiji mumbled to Kumo in English, in order to better conceal his words. “(I don’t like having to hide this stuff from friends. It doesn’t feel right.)” Kumo seemed to nod understandingly at his words.

_“I know, but we can’t afford to be honest here!”_ Kumo countered. _“You don’t have a liscence for this stuff in Japan, and I don’t think you’re close enough to anyone yet to risk such a big secret.”_ Keiji reluctantly admitted that the spider had a point.

“(I guess…)” He muttered. The logic was sound, but that didn’t make him feel any less uncomfortable with it.

The start of the day flew by fairly uneventfully. Hardly anyone was holding much interest in the normal school subjects that filled the first half of the school day, and Keiji was no exception; he was bored out of his skull.

Kumo, on the other hand, was quite the opposite.

_“Ooh, Ooh! I know this one!”_ Kumo practically jumped up and down on Keiji’s shoulder as Present Mic finished putting the next English problem on the board. Keiji struggled to stop an aggravated sigh whilst wondering how he could get ear-plugs that worked on imaginary beings.

Maybe if he _imagined_ a set of ear plugs… 

_“Aw, someone got it before us. You’ve gotta be quicker next time!”_ Kumo insisted as Midoriya answered the question before Keiji had tried to. A brief growl escaped Keiji’s mouth.

He’d probably be stuck with a headache by lunch at this rate.

* * *

Fortunately, Keiji managed to make it through lunch with his sanity intact. It was certainly an uphill battle. Ever since the morning, Kumo had taken an immense interest in what every speck of food tasted like, which was not a question he could answer whilst sitting with his three non-imaginary friends.

At least, he _assumed_ they were real. He supposed he hadn’t ever really checked…

“God, I must be more tired than I thought.” He groaned out aloud. The person sitting next to him, a boy with hair that reminded Keiji of a Pokémon suddenly took notice of him and replied to his observation.

“Yeah, you don’t look so good, man. You OK?” The boy asked. Inwardly, Keiji sighed loudly. This would be the fifth time had been asked such a question. There was looking tired, and then there was looking awful enough for five separate people to express concern.

“I’m fine.” He said with a hint of bitterness in his voice. “Can we just talk about something else?” He pleaded. The boy seemed taken aback for only a moment.

“O…kay…” There was an uncomfortable pause for a moment before he continued. “Did you see that cool story on the news last night?” He tried to change the subject. Keiji raised an eyebrow. Naturally, the latest news had eluded him during his nightly outing.

“Oh, I saw that!” Keiji recognised Deku’s voice interjecting excitedly. “I didn’t know those were still a thing! It was interesting to hear about it in the modern day, especially since-” Deku began to mutter in a rambling fashion regarding the story. Keiji was already both lost and intrigued.

_“Huh. So this is what it’s like to hear crazy ramblings from someone else.”_ Kumo commented. _“It’s kinda cute.”_ Keiji gestured to shush the spider.

“Wait, what’s this story about? I never saw it. What happened?” Keiji enquired. The Pokémon haired boy seemed surprised.

“You missed it? But it was all over the news! It was on pretty much every channel!” The boy exclaimed. Keiji nodded half-heartedly. That failed to answer his question.

“Yeah, I got that. But, what _is_ the story?” Keiji questioned again. The boy smacked himself on the forehead.

“Right, I forgot to explain.” The boy berated himself. “So, apparently there’s this new vigilante running around in downtown Tokyo.” He explained. Keiji sat up instantly, suddenly more intrigued.

“Oh yeah?” He urged the boy on. “How’d they figure that out?” He wondered. Keiji was unaware that he had been seen by any sort of journalist.

“Oh man, it’s such a cool story.” The boy began. “So, basically, this journalist was being harassed by this guy with a gun-” Someone else interrupted him.

“Actually, I’m pretty sure the guy had guns for hands or something.” Keiji looked over to see the girl with super hearing he had noticed in the fitness test.

He also noticed that he _really_ had to learn his classmates’ names. Or at least place their names to faces.

“Really? I heard he had cannons for hands…” Another boy interrupted, this one having spiky red hair and a small scar by his eye.

“Whatever.” The boy with yellow hair regained his focus. “The point is, she was being attacked and that’s when this guy with a weird mask shows up and just takes him out like-” The boy snapped his fingers. “That.”

“I see…” Keiji said, more to himself than anyone else. Apparently he had managed to make a name for himself without even trying. Either that, or there just happened to be two men in masks fighting gun-handed criminals in Tokyo.

_“I mean, it’s not_ totally _impossible…_ ” Kumo added. Keiji nodded his head slightly, attempting to be subtle. Keiji decided to check for sure if this story really was about him.

“Hey, this masked guy? His name wouldn’t happen to be ‘The Weaver’ would it?” He asked. The boy snapped his fingers yet again.

“Yeah! That was it! How’d you know?” The boy confirmed. Keiji gave a small chuckle, as though amused by some private joke.

“Oh, just a lucky guess.” He replied almost whimsically, shrugging his shoulders. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Kumo jump up with the motion. It seemed strange to him that it would act as though it was physically present.

_“Well, look at that! You’re big news and it’s not even been a week!”_ Kumo joked. Keiji let out another small chuckle, confusing the people around him.

“Hey, what’s so funny?” Pokémon hair asked. Keiji froze. He couldn’t answer honestly, since he had no way of explaining Kumo – hell, even _he_ didn’t fully understand the hallucination fully. However, he had no possible explanation. Nervously, he opened his mouth to try to find an excuse when suddenly; he heard something from the distance.

It sounded like…footsteps? Fast footsteps as far as he could tell.

“Hey, do you hear that?” He asked no one in particular. Kumo nodded, but Keiji dismissed that. After all, if he could hear the sound, then obviously his imaginary friend could.

“You too?” Keiji looked behind him to see the earphone girl from before. He nodded to her, both of them looking mildly confused.

_“Wait a minute… What lesson is this?”_ Kumo grabbed Keiji’s attention. He thought for a moment. Since they were past lunch, he supposed this was about the time for…

“Oh. Oh no.” He muttered to himself.

“I…” a booming voice began.

“Oh shi-”

“AM COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!!!” The heroic voice of All-Might, no.1 Hero of Japan, boomed across the classroom, its volume alone forcing Keiji to fall from his seat to the ground.

“(Jesus Christ!)” Keiji exclaimed in English. “Careful of the super-hearing, please!” He cried out.

“Preach…” The earphone girl from before. Yet again, they briefly glanced at one another, meeting a mutual understanding.

They both concluded that this would be a long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was originally supposed to actually _include_ the battle training, but one thing led to another, and before long I had this. The calm before the storm I suppose, something you'll note the chapter title recognises. I didn't have any spider puns off the top of my head, and I had a better idea, or at least I thought so. 
> 
> The dialogue isn't perfect, but I think it came out pretty good. It's probably the most relaxed chapter there is, barring some ominous foreshadowing and lingering dread. Yeah, spoilers, but things only go downhill for our hero from here. 
> 
> Because I'm a writer - It's practically my job to torment my babies 
> 
> (Note - Do not torment live babies.) 
> 
> Also, tumblr still exists, and so do I! If there's anything you want to say to me about this or anything else, you can find me...   
> [Somewhere here, unless I got lost.](https://lordterronus.tumblr.com)


	8. The Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Battle Training begins! Keiji gets suited up and prepares for battle, but first his friends step up to the challenge and things begin to fall apart, in more ways than one!

Keiji glared up from the floor at the source of the booming voice. The muscular figure of All-Might was towering over the classroom. He still wore a large smile on his face, but he also seemed nervous, presumably caught off guard by Keiji’s earlier yelling.

“AH, MY APOLOGIES.” He still spoke with immense volume, but it had decreased slightly. Keiji narrowed his eyes.

Was he being mocked right now…?

“PERHAPS THIS WILL MAKE UP FOR IT!” All-Might called out, thrusting his arm towards the wall. In his hand was a small remote with only a single button upon it. He pressed it and the wall seemed to open up, revealing a series of silver objects. Keiji looked to the wall and leapt up in surprise.

“Gah! What the hell are you-” Keiji called out from the ceiling. It took him a moment to re-focus.

_“Suitcases?”_ Kumo commented. _“Who puts suitcases in the wall?!”_ Keiji nodded, still shocked.

“I thought those were missiles or something…” He muttered to himself. All-Might let out a booming laugh.

“GOOD REFLEXES, YOUNG PARKER!”

“I-it’s Keiji, actually…” Keiji tried to interrupt. He was swiftly ignored.

“BUT PERHAPS YOU’D BETTER SAVE THOSE FOR TODAY’S ACTIVITY, WHICH IS…!” All-Might did a dramatic flourish, revealing a card with a single word written upon it.

“Battle…?” Keiji read aloud. He looked down at the others, seeing the expressions varying wildly. On a scale of one to ten, ten being “Hell yes!” and one being “I don’t wanna die!” Deku seemed to be at a negative four. The boy in front of him – Bakugou, wasn’t it? – was at the other end of the spectrum, and Keiji didn’t know if there was a number high enough to quantify such bloodlust.

“AND NO HERO BATTLE IS COMPLETE WITHOUT STYLE!!” All Might proclaimed. “TO THAT END, ENJOY THESE COSTUMES, PRODUCED TO YOUR SPECIFICATIONS!” Keiji raised his eyebrows at All Might’s words. Did the others design their costumes themselves?

_“Japan is weird.”_ Kumo commented. Keiji nodded at his companion’s sage wisdom.

“READY YOURSELVES FOR COMBAT AND REPORT TO BATTLE GROUND BETA! BE SURE TO COME OUT IN RANKING ORDER!” With that final instruction, All Might dashed out of the room. Keiji spun himself a small web strand as he made his way down to the ground. He hung from the ceiling for a moment before dropping with a flip.

“(I don’t like him.)” Keiji whispered to himself. He couldn’t exactly place why, but something about All Might made his skin crawl. It was unusual, since, aside from being very loud, he seemed like a genuinely great hero. Plus, his regular costume looked like an American flag. Normally, Keiji would love that, but something about him just bothered him. It made Keiji feel… angry, maybe? Disturbed? He couldn’t tell. All he knew was that it didn’t sit well with him at all.

_“I don’t like him either…”_ Kumo practically growled. Keiji’s head whipped over to his shoulder, where he saw the small spider glaring daggers at All Might’s last position. _“He pisses me off…”_ Keiji’s eyes widened. Since the spider’s arrival, he had been nothing but friendly. But now?

Now he was the opposite. And that scared Keiji. The last time this happened…

“(Wait, what happened before…?)” Keiji thought to himself as he carried his costume case to the changing rooms. He narrowed his eyes. “(Something bad, I remember that much… But what exactly was it? It… it was the same day as…)” Keiji shook his head. Now was no time to worry about the past.

He didn’t need a headache right now.

“(H-hey, cool it there, buddy…)” Keiji cautiously whispered. Everyone was fortunately distracted enough by their own costumes to notice him talking to himself. “(You’re kinda scaring me down there…)” Kumo looked up at him with wide eyes.

_“Oh, sorry! I didn’t mean to upset you!”_ Kumo hurriedly reassured him. Keiji smiled a little, relieved. _“I just… really don’t like him.”_ Keiji raised an eyebrow but chose not to ask about it. This was too public a place to talk much to his companion. Instead, he simply shrugged. As long as Kumo could keep himself under control, Keiji would be fine. There was nothing to worry about. His shaking hand disagreed with his assessment, but he remained calm.

“Keiji?” A familiar voice broke Keiji from his thoughts. He turned to see Iida staring at him with a slightly concerned look on his face.

He also noticed that he had taken off his shirt. It was rather a hard sight to miss, he thought.

_“Your face is red.”_ Kumo interrupted his… er, observation. Keiji shook his head.

“S-sorry, what did you say? I think I zoned out for a sec there.” Keiji laughed awkwardly. Iida raised an eyebrow briefly before repeating himself.

“I said you should get changed. We need to be heading out soon.” He informed Keiji, who nodded dutifully.

_“(Right. I should get moving.)”_ Keiji thought to himself. He turned to his costume case, still closed.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Iida asked. Keiji hesitated before answering. Overall, he supposed he might not have been entirely alright. Between his concerningly vague memory and Kumo’s sudden aggression, he was perhaps a little stressed, even without factoring in the battle training, as well as the usual personal matters. He was torn between not wanting to worry his friend and not wishing to lie.

“Don’t worry about me.” He settled on saying. “We should focus on the trials ahead.” Iida seemed to accept his answer after a moment.

“If you say so. I suppose we should not waste any more time, then!” Keiji smiled at Iida’s sudden enthusiasm. He was right, though. They had spent enough time waiting.

It was show-time.

* * *

Keiji’s costume was held in a different suitcase when compared to the others. Instead of the uniform silver that that the others shone with, Keiji’s case was a thick black, with a red spider emblem displayed upon it. Below said emblem was his numbered rank, taken from Aizawa’s fitness test. Keiji looked at it for a moment longer, before hesitantly opening up the clasps.

“Okay.” He breathed. “Time to go.” He opened up the suitcase, and raised his eyebrows at the contents.

The suit was the same shade of black as the suitcase, with a red V – shaped section at the chest. It was filled with webbing and a red spider was circled and overlaid on top. It was certainly unusual, as Keiji had been expecting something closer to his father’s suit. Just below the chest, there was a small envelope sitting upon the suit. Keiji picked it up and examined it.

‘To Keiji’ was all that was written upon it, in some rough-looking English handwriting. Keiji carefully opened the envelope, finding a small note inside written with the same handwriting.

_‘Hey Kei!’_ Keiji read to himself. _‘I doubt you remember me; we didn’t see each other much, even before you moved country. The name’s Miles. I’m the guy who made you father’s suits. He talked a lot about you. I know you never asked about a costume, so I whipped somethin’ up for you. It’s a bit different, I know, but hey, so are you! Enjoy it, Spider-Man!_

There was a much neater signature placed at the bottom of the note, reading 

‘Miles Morales, Spider – Agency’

followed by a final, rough note on the page.

_‘P.S: Don’t worry, Pete told me all about your “issues”. The suit can adapt for it, but try not to put too much strain on the poor thing, OK?’_ Keiji went white.

“W-what?” Keiji spoke quietly to himself, stunned. His “issues”, as Mr. Morales had put it, were something that the Parker family as a whole had all agreed to keep quiet. For the most part, almost no one knew of his condition, and fewer would know well enough to adapt a costume to suit it. Aizawa was the only exception, and it was some time before he was told the full extent of them.

_“Dad must’ve really trusted this guy, huh?”_ Kumo interrupted his thoughts. Keiji responded by levelling a glare at the imaginary arachnid.

_“Your dad!”_ Kumo swiftly corrected himself. “I meant to say your dad…” Keiji glared at him for a moment longer before returning his attention to the suit.

“Well, at least the design’s pretty cool.” Keiji said to himself once had managed to get the suit over his entire body. “Mask’s pretty comfy, too.” He added. The mask that he wore on his face was similar to his fathers on the inside, at least. It was made from an adaptive fabric that was created through the use of spider silk and several other components, allowing for the mask to both be highly protective and also expressive. The eyes were something he particularly liked, as they were capable of moving into a variety of positions to match his facial expression well.

The rest of the suit was made from similar material, though Keiji noticed that some parts seemed to be slightly more reinforced than others, especially at the legs. A curious point to place the additional protection at, but Keiji shrugged it off. The red webbing pattern on the chest was mirrored at the forearms, with fingerless gloves on the end, to allow for maximum wall-crawling versatility. The feet of the suit were notably thinner than the rest of the suit for this same purpose. There was a tiny hole just behind the palms to match with Keiji’s natural web shooters, and there was a somewhat larger point circled on the forearms. According to instructions Keiji managed to find underneath the suit, these points were capable of receding back to open up the area when required.

“Hey, I look pretty good!” Keiji admired himself for a moment in his new costume. It wasn’t quite what he had expected, but he was pleased with it, nonetheless.

_“Damn right you do!”_

Kumo encouraged. “Hey, maybe we could try and make this sort of fabric for our ‘other’ suit!” Keiji considered the spider’s words, before nodding his head. With his webbing, and just a few things he could pick up on his way home, he could manage something similar to this. But that was for later. If at all.

Right now, the next Spider-Man had to make his grand debut!

* * *

“LOOKING GOOD! SO, MY WARDS, ARE YOU READY FOR BATTLE?!” All-Might called out. Keiji silently thanked Mr. Morales for providing a mask that not only gave him great physical protection but dulled the sound of All-Might’s explosive voice. He glanced around and took in the look of the costumes everyone wore.

Most of them were fairly distance. A few people, such as Pokémon-Hair, had just gone with some more normal clothes, albeit with a stylish edge based on their powers. Pokémon-Hair had a lightning motif going, so Keiji guessed he was probably electricity-based. Most of the students, however, had been more creative with their costume designs. There were some interesting details to be found, such as Bakugou having giant grenades on his arms. Keiji thought it looked rather silly, but it was at least distinctive.

Other costumes were recognisable for entirely different reasons. Keiji chose to avoid looking at some of them, including a boy with red hair who seemed to forget to add a shirt to his costume, or a girl with black hair who wore what looked to resemble belts vertically placed along her body.

_“Be glad no one can see your face right now.”_ Kumo quipped. Keiji shot him a bemused glare.

“Shut it, you.” He replied. A voice from beside him answered.

“Eh? I didn’t say anything though…” Deku’s voice interrupted Keiji’s thoughts. He jumped slightly, before turning to face his friend.

“S-sorry about that, I thought I heard someone else…” Keiji excused, sheepishly scratching the back of his head. It was only a half-lie, really. He had in fact heard someone else. Though their status as an imaginary being probably rendered that excuse moot. Deku’s eyes widened as Keiji spoke.

“Whoa. That’s a really cool mask! How does it work? Is it controlled remotely? No that wouldn’t work you’re not holding any electronics maybe some kind of special material but that wouldn’t match up either unless it was very sensitive or-” Keiji cut off Deku’s rambling before he could go further.

“Actually, you hit the nail right on the head.” Keiji’s eyes widened. “It’s a special material. Based on spider-silk. You’re pretty perceptive, huh?” He complimented. Deku sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. “I-I’m not _that_ good…” Keiji interrupted him yet again.

“Don’t sell yourself short! You’re awesome!” He smiled and patted Deku on the back, causing the boy to stumble forwards a little. Keiji briefly worried if he had used too much strength, a fairly common concern for him, but his thoughts were interrupted as the two were noticed by another friend, as Uraraka came up to them.

“Deku! Keiji!” She caught the two of them off-guard. They turned to face her, at which point Deku’s face went red beneath his mask. “Your costumes are so cool!” She added.

“Thanks, Uraraka. Yours is pretty awesome too.” Keiji replied, whilst Deku struggled to find his words. Keiji understood immediately why, as he… ‘examined’ the suit.

_“Man, you are really lucky they can’t see how red your face is through this mask!”_ Kumo commented. Keiji elected to ignore him.

“Deku really likes it.” Keiji joked. Deku looked back and forth between him and Uraraka with a look of shock, and possibly a hint of betrayal. He tried his hardest not to laugh, which wasn’t helped by the fact that Kumo was already hysterical.

“I-I mean… um I-I don’t not l-like it?” Deku managed to squeak out. Keiji struggled to restrain himself as he chuckled quietly at Uraraka’s oblivious expression.

“Yeah, I should’ve been more specific with it. It’s all puffy and curvy.” She laughed hesitantly. Keiji raised an eyebrow, visible on his mask.

“Wait, did you guys design your costumes?” Keiji enquired. The other two looked at him as though he had just asked if water was wet.

_“Wait, is it…?”_ Kumo helpfully contributed.

“Of…Of course. Wait, didn’t you?” Deku asked. Keiji cautiously shook his head. Was it really so strange?

“Nope. I was just sorta… given this one.” He looked down and gestured to himself. “Glad they sent me something cool, at least.” He added. The others continued to look at him.

“So, _who_ sent you the suit?” Deku asked, backing away slightly. Keiji looked confused.

“My father’s agency. Who else?” The others went ‘oh.’ As Keiji explained. Deku looked excited for a moment.

“Your father’s a pro hero?! Which one?!” His previous nerves gone, Deku’s switch to a more excited mind-set was so sudden it made Keiji laugh in surprised amusement. He looked boastful as he replied.

“Damn right he was. But not just any Pro! You’re looking at the son of the amazing, the spectacular Spider-Man!” Keiji exclaimed. Uraraka thought for a moment, holding her chin up before shrugging.

“Never heard of him.” She simply said.

Keiji was wounded.

“A-ah. T-that’s cool…” He said despondently. Fortunately, Deku had a more impressed response.

“Wait, seriously?! The previous number one hero in America?! That’s your dad!?” Keiji looked at him with wide eyes. His father being recognised in Japan wasn’t surprising, but recognised for his title in America? That was unexpected.

And certainly, well-received.

“Indeed, he is!” Keiji boasted. “Not only that, he happened to teach me all he knew! Get ready to see…” Keiji paused for dramatic effect before taking on an enthusiastic pose. “Spider-Man 2!” There was a short pause, before Uraraka laughed.

“H-hey! I’m being serious here!” Keiji complained, something that only seemed to amuse Uraraka more.

“S-sorry.” She managed to get out. “Just… I wasn’t expecting that pose.” She explained. Keiji raised an eyebrow, and slowly returned to a normal stance.

“I-is Spider-Man 2 your hero name?” Izuku asked, causing Keiji to glance back over to him. Keiji shrugged his shoulders, causing Kumo to appear to jump up and down for a moment in an amusing fashion.

I guess. Honestly, it’s never really come up before, even on patrol. It works for now, I suppose.” He said. Izuku looked curiously at him.

“What do you mean ‘Patrol’?” Izuku asked. Keiji’s eyes went wide, a sight made comical by his expressive mask.

“Oh, right. I forget that’s not normal here, sometimes.” Keiji answered, confusing others with his words. He leaned forwards and whispered out his next words.

“Back in the US, I actually had a licence that worked as long as I was with a Pro Hero. Pretty neat, huh?” He whispered, smiling under his mask. The two of them both had rather distinct responses from one another.

“Whoa, that’s awesome!” Uraraka said.

“T-that sounds pretty dangerous!” Deku said at the same time. Keiji brushed it off quickly.

“Nah, it was totally safe. Dad wouldn’t have let me do it otherwise, and since he was with me, there wasn’t any danger we couldn’t handle!” He smiled confidently. Deku still seemed sceptical of the idea, but he seemed relieved by his words. Keiji found himself wondering why it was such a big deal.

_“It wasn’t always safe though, was it?”_ Kumo commented in an almost melancholic tone. Keiji’s grin wavered for a moment, but he dismissed it. He was sure there had been no serious risk of danger.

His shaking hand disagreed.

“H-hey, are you-” Deku tried to ask, but a familiar voice brought the groups attention back to the class at hand.

“Sir, we appear to be in a similar space to that of the Entrance Exam! Are we performing cityscape manoeuvres once again?!” Iida announced, drawing the class’s eye to him. Keiji quickly noticed the similar design to that of Ingenium, but found himself more interested in the differences. The helmet was the most obvious difference, with perhaps the second being position of the engines. He supposed that that made more sense.

“(Similar, yet still unique, huh?)” He murmured to himself, stroking his chin with one hand. “(That’s…pretty cool.)” He added, noticing his own costume. Perhaps Iida was on to something, in terms of design philosophy.

_“You’re just jealous his suit looks cooler than ours, aren’t you?”_ Kumo teased. Keiji turned to his uninvited metal guest with an annoyed expression.

“Hey, zip it!” His voice was raised more than he was expecting, seeming to silence the class. All-Might looked grateful for the diversion, for some reason. Keiji probably missed something. 

“THANKS FOR THE SAVE, YOUNG PARKER!” All-Might gave him a thumbs-up. Keiji found himself leaning back a little, feeling uncomfortable at the gesture. 

“S-sir, please, Keiji is fine. Or even Spider-Man…” He forced out. All-Might let out a booming laugh. 

“I LIKE THE ENTHUSIASM! BUT LET’S SAVE HERO NAMES FOR LATER. FOR NOW, IT’S TIME FOR…” He seemed to pause for dramatic effect. “INDOOR ANTI-PERSONNEL BATTLE TRAINING!!” He announced. Keiji was glad that he mentioned, but he noticed everyone else looking more confused than surprised. 

“Didn’t he say that already…?” Keiji heard the voice of Earphone-Girl comment to herself, and he raised his eyebrow. Perhaps he should have been paying closer attention.

“Of course!” Iida was quick to respond. “But how exactly should we proceed? You still haven’t explained the proper protocol.” All-Might grinned at Iida. Or, he seemed to. With his constant smile glued upon his face, it was hard to tell. Honestly, it was a little creepy.

“I’M GLAD YOU ASKED, YOUNG IIDA!” All-Might announced. He quickly reached for something in the pockets of his costume, before seeming to retrieve a small, crumpled piece of paper. “ALLOW ME TO EXPLAIN THE DETAILS!” He declared whilst opening the paper.

_“(Some kind of cheat sheet?)”_ He muttered under his breath. Kumo seemed to nod his head, which continued to be strangely impressive with a spider’s anatomy.

_“Seems so. I don’t think he’s all that good a teacher.”_ The imaginary spider answered. Keiji glanced over his shoulder, concerned.

“(I’m sure he’s just…getting used to the role.)” He defended quietly. Kumo huffed, but didn’t say anything more before All-Might got to explaining the task at hand.

“BASICALLY, YOU ARE ALL GOING TO BE SPLIT INTO TEAMS OF TWO, DESIGNATED AS ‘HEROES’ AND ‘VILLAINS’.” He recited. “THE VILLAINS ARE HIDING A NUCLEAR BOMB WITHIN THEIR HIDEOUT, AND THE HEROES MUST STOP THEM BEFORE THEY CAN USE IT. THE HEROES CAN WIN BY EITHER CAPTURING THE VILLAINS, OR REACHING THE BOMB BEFORE THE TIME LIMIT RUNS OUT. IF THEY DON’T, THE VILLAINS WIN!” He explained, before letting out a deep breath. It sounded oddly tired for someone in such excellent condition as All-Might. “ARE THERE ANY QUESTIONS?!” He finished.

“That explanation would seem to suffice.” Iida replied, and everyone else seemed to agree. However, Keiji had one pressing question that it seemed no-one had wanted to mention. He raised his hand into the air.

“YES, YOUNG PARKER?” All-Might answered him, but Keiji glared back.

“Seriously, it’s Keiji. Stop calling me ‘Parker’. It doesn’t sound right.” He complained. All-Might nodded, hopefully finally registering the information.

“DULY NOTED, YOUNG KEIJI!” The boy in question let out a brief, relieved sigh. “WHAT WAS YOUR QUESTION?” All-Might asked, and Keiji returned back to his point.

“Well, there’s an odd number of students. What do we do about that?” He asked. All-Might nodded in response, seemingly grateful that he had brought it up.

“YOU ARE INDEED CORRECT! I AM AFRAID THAT YOU WILL BE GOING SOLO ON THIS EXERCISE, YOUNG KEIJI!” He exclaimed dramatically, pointing at Keiji, whose eyes had become quite wide.

“What?!” He called back in frustration. “Why am I stuck on my own here?” All-Might seemed to hesitate before reluctantly answering.

“W-WELL, I HAVE BEEN…ADVISED ON HOW TO HANDLE YOUR PARTICULAR…’CIRCUMSTANCES’.” Keiji’s wide eyes narrowed swiftly into a glare, as he let out an angry sigh.

“I see. Thanks for clarifying.” Keiji gritted out. Everyone else looked between All-Might and Keiji with a strange concern in their eyes.

“Circumstances? What circumstances?”

“Is there something wrong with him?”

“Maybe he’s just not good with other people?”

“I don’t know. Something seems fishy about this.”

“That is enough!” Iida’s voice interrupted the growing storm of uncertain babbling from the rest of the class. “Whatever Keiji’s apparent ‘circumstances’ may be, they are most assuredly not our concern. We should be focused on the situation at hand, not prying into others’ private business.” He announced, silencing the others. Keiji looked to him gratefully. He made a note to thank him after class.

“MUCH APPRECIATED, YOUNG IIDA.” All-Might coughed, bringing the attention back to him once more. “Now, IT’S TIME TO ESTABLISH THE OTHER TEAMS! WE WILL DECIDE THIS BY…” He made a dramatic pause as he reached down, and brought forth a rectangular box. “DRAWING LOTS!” He proclaimed.

“Is that really the best way?!” Iida asked, shocked. Keiji was about to respond, but Deku managed to beat him to it.

“It makes sense to me. Most Pros have to team up with other agencies in emergency situations, without knowing who they’ll be working with.” Deku explained. Keiji looked surprised at him. For someone with no background in the field, he was surprisingly knowledgeable on the subject. Especially since they had only just begun studying at UA.

“Can confirm.” Keiji nodded along with Deku’s analysis. “There’d be no way of organising a two-man group for this kind of situation so fast unless you were already with someone.” He added. Iida nodded dutifully at the both of them, before looking over to All-Might.

“Of course! My apologies for such a thoughtless disruption! My mistake!”

“IT’S NOT A PROBLEM!” All-Might answered. “SO, WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, LET’S DECIDE THE TEAMS!” He gestured towards the box, and people began lining up in order to determine their partners. Keiji stood back, watching with narrowed eyes.

* * *

“(‘Advised’ my ass. This has Uncle A’s name all over it.)” He complained to himself, before turning to Kumo, who nodded in response. “(What do you think?)” He decided to ask.

_“Of course. No way this isn’t his doing. I mean, he’s the only one here who would know, right?”_ Kumo answered. Keiji thought about it for a moment.

“(The principal and the school nurse probably know something.)” Kumo muttered thoughtfully. He could only guess as to what exactly Aizawa had told UA about his condition, or how much he had said. “(But I doubt even All-Might here knows the full story.)” He added. All-Might seemed to glance over at him.

“(You know, you should be careful. You never know who might notice.)” Keiji froze. All-Might had heard him, clearly, and furthermore understood him.

_“Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to talk in English in front of the walking American-Flag Guy…”_ Kumo nervously joked. Keiji glanced at him, careful not to give away that he was talking to anyone.

“(You think?)” He made sure to whisper to avoid being heard again. All-Might looked at him for a moment longer, before finally turning away, just as the last student had retrieved their lot, and met with their partner.

Keiji looked over at the teams that had been formed. It appeared that Deku and Uraraka were a team, something that seemed to greatly distress the rabbit-eared boy. Uraraka seemed pleased, at least. Not that Deku wasn’t happy with his partner, but he would probably struggle as far as communication was concerned.

“I wonder how that’ll go for him…” Kumo said, concern in his voice. Keiji raised an eyebrow, but focused his eyes on the other teams.

“It could have been worse.” Keiji commented, looking over to notice that Iida and Bakugou had formed a team as well. Neither of them seemed overly pleased with the outcome, but to his credit, Iida at least had the dignity to avoid making his displeasure obvious.

Bakugou, it would seem, lacked the same level of tact.

“I don’t need your fucking help, Four-Eyes!” He angrily said to Iida, who visibly reeled back at his harsh words.

“Bakugou, language! Please, we’re going to have to work together.” Iida tried. Bakugou huffed aggressively and turned his head.

“NOW THAT THE TEAMS ARE DECIDED, IT’S TIME TO ESTABLISH THE FIRST MATCH!” All-Might exclaimed. He brought forth two more boxes, one in each hand. They were placed on small pedestals. One box was white and labelled ‘HERO’ in large bold letters, whilst the other was black with ‘VILLAIN’ labelled on it. Kumo looked at the boxes, before speaking in an oddly sad tone.

_“I wish it was that simple…”_ He murmured. Keiji had nothing to add to that but a slightly concerned look. All-Might drew forth two balls from each box, each one with a letter listed upon them. “TEAM A WILL BE THE HEROES, AND TEAM D WILL BE THE VILLAINS!” All-Might cheered as he held the balls up. Keiji looked around the class, hoping to identify who was doing what. It wasn’t hard to see who was up first.

Iida looked despondent for a moment whilst Bakugou seemed elated. If he had to guess, he would assume that they were playing the Villain role this time around. Meanwhile, Deku appeared slightly shocked, but strangely determined. Uraraka seemed eager as well, suggesting they would be the heroes.

“This doesn’t look good.” Kumo winced as he spoke. Keiji nodded his head in agreement. Still, he thought, it could go better than he expected. Bakugou may have been aggressive, but he had to admit that his Quirk was very powerful. Combine that with Iida’s level-headedness, and they might stand a chance.

_“Shouldn’t we be rooting for the heroes?”_ Kumo half-laughed. Keiji jumped, his eyes going wide.

“O-oh right.” He turned his attention to the hero team. Deku certainly had the advantage in terms of raw power, but he also didn’t seem to be very good at controlling it, so it was something of a double-edged sword. As for Uraraka, Keiji had no idea how useful her Quirk could be in combat, but with Deku’s analysis skills, he supposed anything was possible.

“NOW, AS THE TEAMS PEPARE THEMSELVES, THE REST OF THE CLASS WILL RETREAT INTO THE BASEMENT MONITOR ROOM!” All-Might declared, gesturing towards a trapdoor positioned very close to the main building. He then turned to offer some words of wisdom towards the teams. Bakugou and Deku seemed to be of particular interest to him as he spoke. Keiji simply pretended not to hear as they were told to commit to their respective hero and villain roles, though warned against going too far. It was hardly any of his business at this point.

Instead of listening, he followed the rest of the class as they opened the trapdoor. Before he left, however, he looked towards Iida, who happened to be looking at the class. As the two made eye contact, Keiji felt that he needed to say something, so he called out:

“Good luck! I’m rooting for you.” Iida looked surprised for a moment, before nodding back.

“W-whose side are you on here?!” Deku noticed and called back. Keiji chuckled, shrugging his shoulders.

“If it helps, I’m not rooting for Bakugou.” Keiji joked, to which the boy in question took offence.

“Fuck off, Lucky!” He shouted back. Keiji raised an eyebrow at his peculiar choice of nickname, but he went down into the basement before he could comment on it.

_“It’s probably because you get to work alone.”_ Kumo answered his question, to which Keiji groaned quietly.

“(Don’t remind me.)” He grumbled under his breath. Keiji wasn’t helpless in a fight, but on his own, he was hardly confident in his abilities. Or rather, his skills. His abilities were certainly his greatest asset.

Still, there was a limit to how far power alone could take you. That lesson felt fitting for the fight he was about to see.

_“Any thoughts on how it’ll go?”_ Keiji hummed in response to Kumo’s question. He answered once he had reached the end of the stairs, stepping into a wide rectangular room with a series of what looked to be projectors upon the forward wall.

“(Bakugou seems like he’ll move first.)” He whispered to his companion. “(He’ll probably be after Deku. There’s clearly some tension there…)” Kumo managed to roll all eight of his spider eyes, a rather strange sight to observe.

_“Obviously. Who do you think will win? Between the two of them, I mean.”_ Kumo enquired. Yet again, Keiji could only hum in response. It took him a moment to answer properly.

“(It depends on how much force is used. If Deku catches Bakugou off-guard, he’s got this. But if Bakugou doesn’t give him the chance, then…)” He didn’t need to finish as Kumo caught on quickly.

_“Let’s hope for the former. I want Baka-gou to get what’s coming to him!”_ Keiji couldn’t help himself. He laughed. It drew a few eyes, but for just a moment, he didn’t seem to care.

“What are you laughing about?” Keiji noticed Earphone-Girl glancing at him with a raised eyebrow.

“It-It’s nothing.” He managed to get out, calming himself. “Just thought of something I heard earlier.” Earphone-Girl looked at him curiously for a moment, before shrugging and focussing her attention onto the front wall, from which screens suddenly appeared to be projected.

“NOW, PAY ATTENTION, YOUNG WARDS. YOU JUST MIGHT LEARN SOMETHING!” All-Might faced them as he made his declaration, before turning towards the wall, and grabbing a small microphone. He spoke into it very clearly, though with even more volume than usual. Keiji covered his ears as he announced:

“ALRIGHT, IT’S TIME TO BEGIN!”

* * *

_-A few minutes earlier-_

Tenya Iida stood next to the large bomb prop found within the building. It was most certainly visually impressive, but closer inspection revealed it to be simple Paper-Mache. Despite this, the bomb seemed to be rather sturdy.

“Despite knowing that it’s just for training, taking on the villainous role disturbs me.” He said to himself. “So, we simply have to guard this?” He spoke louder this time, directing his attention to his partner, who stood near the entrance to the room. He seemed not dissimilar to a predator, waiting for his prey impatiently. He was certainly very fitting for this particular role.

“Hey.” He called back, seemingly dismissing Iida’s previous words. “Deku’s got a Quirk now?” Iida found himself confused by the question, raising an eyebrow. He had removed his helmet and was holding it under his arm.

“Did you not see his remarkable strength yesterday? It does come at quite the risk to him, however.” He answered. It wasn’t hard to deduce why Bakugou had asked about his friend’s Quirk, especially with how his body had tensed up as Iida spoke.

“I don’t know what happened between the two of you,” Iida spoke firmly, seeing where this was going. “But I’m going to have to ask that you don’t charge straight for Midoriya. You can’t let your emotions control you.” He explained. Bakugou seemed to only be annoyed at his words. He turned his head sharply to glare at Iida.

“Fuck off, Four-Eyes! I know what I’m doing’! Just don’t get in my way!” Small explosions crackled in Bakugou’s hands as he yelled back. Iida only frowned in response.

“That’s hardly a very good plan.” He said. Bakugou leered at him, arcing his body forwards.

“Don’t fucking patronise me!” He yelled back, seemingly very close to attacking him. Iida carefully took a small step back, but kept his voice firm.

“I don’t intend to. I just want us to work together so that we can win.” Bakugou growled in response, and Iida sighed. This clearly wasn’t going to work.

“Hah! Like I’d need a shithead like _you_ to beat that stupid Deku! I can handle them all on my own. Don’t you fucking underestimate me!” With that, Bakugou began to storm off.

“Don’t do something reckless!” Iida called out. The only response he received was a loud explosion from the other end of the doorway. Iida sighed bitterly.

“First Keiji, now Bakugou… Why does nobody listen when I’m trying to help them?” Iida hissed under his breath, clenching his fists. He let out a dep breath.

_“What would Ingenium do?”_ He thought to himself before shaking his head. As much as he worried, he had to focus on his own task. Guarding the bomb and acting as a true villain.

“I will have to perfect my villainous persona!” He resolved, managing to distract himself from his concerns. He leapt into a maniacal laugh, before stopping.

“No, no, it needs more passion.” He determined. This role was not one to relish in, but it did present some great opportunities for acting progress. He placed his helmet back on and began to perfect his evil laugh, as he heard All-Might’s voice from his micro-transceiver.

“IT’S TIME TO BEGIN!” His voice rang through his head, and Iida quickly made to adjust the volume. He wondered idly if this was what Keiji felt like.

“VILLAIN TEAM, PROTECT THAT BOMB AS BEST YOU CAN!” All-Might’s voice had been suitably adjusted, and Iida nodded at the instruction.

“Understood.” He replied calmly. Quickly, he adjusted his transceiver to reach Bakugou, causing him to hear a loud amount of static from the other side.

“What do you want, Four-Eyes?!” Iida heard Bakugou growl angrily into the mic. He made sure to answer clearly.

“The exercise has begun. Don’t do anything too dangerous.” He warned. As expected, Bakugou’s response was to yell. It seemed to be the boy’s response to everything.

“Don’t you tell me what to fucking do!” He yelled back, before cutting off the transmission. Iida only hoped that he would not act as reckless as he seemed to be.

However, he strongly doubted that.

Especially after another large explosion rang out from below.

* * *

Keiji watched the screens intently, paying close attention to the villain team in particular. The hero team had only just arrived in the building, so there was little to observe there. Bakugou had seemed to storm off mere moments ago, leaving Iida alone at the bomb. Strategically, it seemed to be a very poor decision, but whether Bakugou had something else up his sleeve remained to be seen.

_“I wouldn’t count on it-”_ Kumo started to comment, before they looked back to the hero team, finding Bakugou now leaping into the fray. He appeared suddenly, leaping down upon the hero team and let loose a large explosive blast. 

_“Yeah, that’s what I was expecting…”_ Kumo added. However, as the smoke cleared, Keiji’s eyes widened. It seemed that Deku was able to dodge the opening assault, protecting Uraraka in the process. Though his mask did seem to be damaged as a result.

_“Eh, it needed work anyways.”_ Kumo seemed to shrug. Keiji frowned at the spider’s harsh critique, but couldn’t bring himself to _completely_ disagree.

“That’s low, Bakugou!” A red-haired boy near the front of the room said. “Sneak attacks are so unmanly!” Keiji raised his eyebrow at him.

“But he’s the villain. It’s in character for him to act ruthlessly.” He replied simply, his arms crossed at his chest. The red-haired boy hesitated, but agreed with his point.

“That makes sense, I guess. Still…” he muttered, in a low enough volume that Keiji could barely catch it. He was admittedly more focussed on the screens.

“That Midori sure can dodge!” Another voice cheered. Keiji noticed that it belonged to a pink-skinned girl with a stylish costume.

“You got that right.” Keiji agreed with a whistle. He watched intently onto the screens as Bakugou moved yet again, angrily launching a right hook. It was apparent that he was talking – or, knowing Bakugou, probably yelling – so Keiji focussed his eyes on their mouth movements. Bakugou was yelling about beating Deku just enough to not get disqualified, but he was stopped when Deku grabbed his arm mid-swing. In an instant, he had managed to throw Bakugou onto the ground.

“Hell yeah!” Keiji cheered. Kumo mimicked his response, but he paid it no mind. “That’s one hell of a move. Pro for sure.” He added, causing All-Might to nod his head slightly as they watched.

Deku began to call out to Bakugou, – whom he seemed to refer to as ‘Kacchan’ for some reason – yelling angrily to him.

“What’re they saying?” The red-haired boy spoke up again. “These cameras don’t seem to have very good sound.” All-Might seemed to begin to answer, but Keiji beat him to it.

“Well, Deku’s saying something about how he’s not going to be Bakugou’s punching bag.” Keiji explained. “Just a moment ago, he mentioned some stuff about taking notes on cool heroes, seemingly mentioning Bakugou in particular. Oh, and Bakugou’s getting pissed, but what else is new?” He casually explained, keeping his attention closely on the screens. Partially to follow the fight, but mostly because of the attention he had inadvertently drawn to himself.

“I’m good at lip-reading.” He added, sensing the looks he was receiving from his classmates. All-Might in particular seemed to be taken aback, but also appeared very pleased for some reason.

“BRAVO, YOUNG KEIJI!” He declared, calling him out. “THAT IS QUITE THE USEFUL SKILL YOU POSSESS. WHO TAUGHT YOU?” Keiji tore his eyes off of the screen for just a moment to respond with a smirk.

“My dad did. He was a Pro Hero too. Ever hear of Spider-Man?” He asked, before something occurred to him. “N-not from me, I mean.” He hastily added. All-Might boomed out a laugh.

“INDEED, I HAVE!” Keiji smiled at All-Might properly for perhaps the first time that day, before something made him frown. He didn’t know why, but All-Might’s words strangely annoyed him. He dismissed it quickly. “THE SKILS HE TAUGHT SHOULD SERVE YOU WELL! ANYTHING ELSE TO ADD?” All-Might seemed oddly eager to get his take on the fight. Keiji hummed, looking back to the screens. Uraraka had gotten up and appeared to be running off, whilst Deku and Bakugou were staring each other down. Bakugou briefly touched his communicator before returning to attack position.

“The fighters are too emotional.” Keiji said, after a pause. “Either they’re both _really_ good actors and are having fun with their respective roles, or they’ve got some personal stakes in this.” He shook his head a little. “Either way, it doesn’t bode well for either side. Uraraka and Iida seem to have the right idea, sticking to finding the bomb.” He finished.

“A SOLID ANALYSIS, WELL DONE!” All-Might congratulated. Keiji rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. He wasn’t the best at handling praise. “ANYONE ELSE WANT TO CONTRIBUTE?” He asked, beckoning at least one hand up.

“YES, YOUNG ASHIDO?” All Might pointed to the hand of the pink-skinned girl from before. Keiji made a mental note of the name, adding it to a list of his classmates.

_“Ashido. Got it.”_ Kumo offered his assistance with the memorisation. Keiji nodded his head slightly in thanks.

“So, the hero team has a time limit, and no idea where the bomb is? Isn’t that, like, a huge disadvantage?” Ashido asked. All-Might let out a surprisingly soft chuckle in response.

“HEROES ARE OFTEN AT A DISADVANTAGE. IT IS THEIR ABILITY TO ACT FOR THE GREATER GOOD IN SPITE OF THIS THAT MAKES THEM HEROES! JUST LIKE AIZAWA TOLD YOU!” The class waited with bated breath as All-Might spoke. Even Keiji was captivated. “SAY IT WITH ME…”

“PLUS ULTRA!” Keiji cheered jubilantly with everyone else, raising his fist into the air. Despite Keiji’s admitted distaste for the man, he had to admit that All-Might was damn good at motivating a crowd. The class quickly calmed themselves, as another boy spoke up.

“Ah, _monsieur_ , Bakugou is on the move!” A boy wearing a costume that resembled shining armour spoke up, drawing everyone’s attention back to the monitors.

It was quickly apparent that Bakugou was quite skilled in combat, at least from Keiji’s perspective. Deku was doing incredibly well to keep up with him at all, managing to place a piece of tape on Bakugou’s foot for a moment.

“Sir, what’s with the tape?” Keiji felt compelled to ask. All-Might seemed surprised for a moment.

“AH, I FORGOT TO MENTION!” He laughed it off, before retrieving a small wheel of tape from a small pouch on his belt. “THIS IS CAPTURE TAPE! WRAPPING SOMEONE IN THIS SERVES AS SUFFICIENT PROOF OF CAPTURE.” He explained, causing Keiji to nod at the explanation.

_“I’m pretty sure we could do better with webs.”_ Kumo commented, and Keiji had to agree, despite the spider’s small error.

“(I could, definitely. You don’t exist, so you have no webs.)” He whispered back. Fortunately, everyone was far too drawn into the battle to notice his little dialogue.

_“R-right. That’s what I meant. Sorry.”_ Kumo apologised. If it wasn’t for the fact that the spider was a hallucination of mysterious origin and uncertain implications, he would have felt bad for him.

“(It’s cool. Now keep watching.)” He said calmly, showing no hostility. Kumo sighed in apparent relief.

_“Alright, I’ll keep watching Iida.”_ Kumo added, causing Keiji to raise an eyebrow. Had the spider been observing the other side of the battle this whole time?

_“Of course!”_ Kumo interrupted his thoughts, making him jump slightly. _“I mean, you can’t look in two places at once, but I have eight whole extra eyes! I’ll show you what I saw later.”_ Keiji went from mild intrigue to legitimate confusion.

“What are you talking about?” He found himself asking out loud. One of his classmates turned to respond.

“Well, look at that!” Earphone-Girl spoke to him, gesturing at one of the screens. It showed Deku, who had managed to evade Bakugou’s attack. “He’s doing so well against the top scorer in the Entrance Exam, and he hasn’t even used his Quirk!” Whilst Deku was certainly impressive, Keiji found himself frowning at her words.

“His use of his Quirk, or lack thereof, isn’t a major detail. Lots of heroes can fight against strong foes without their Quirks, like Un-” He cut himself off with a cough. “I mean, like Mr. Aizawa. The point is, strategy is better than raw strength. _That’s_ the impressive part.” He explained. Earphone-Girl looked at him strangely for a moment, before shrugging.

“I guess you’re right. It’s still pretty awesome, though.” She conceded. Keiji nodded in agreement.

_“Y’know, that point sounds kinda hollow coming from a guy with super strength.”_ Kumo joked. Keiji scowled down at his shoulder, thankfully difficult to notice thanks to his mask. He held his tongue, but his look said enough. The spider held his head down, or at least, appeared to.

_“S-sorry! Not funny?”_ Keiji looked incredulous as Kumo attempted to apologise. He almost spoke again, but restrained himself.

_“(Just… don’t mention it.)”_ He tried responding in thought, instead. Kumo looked up hopefully. “(You made me sound like I was cheating or something…)” He explained. Kumo nodded as he ‘spoke’.

_“Oh! I get it. Don’t worry, I’ll keep my chelicerae shut!”_ Keiji chuckled softly. He tuned back into the battle as Deku sprinted away from Bakugou, once again checking their mouth movements for any insight. Something strange stood out to him from Bakugou.

“Hiding his Quirk…?” He repeated quietly to himself. “Why would Deku do that? Is he…” He struggled with the words. “…Like me?” he managed.

_“I… don’t think so. Probably just a late bloomer or something. I doubt your situations are all that similar…”_ Kumo stopped him from getting too excited.

“(R-right. You’re probably right…)” He whispered back, keeping his eyes on the fight. Bakugou was catching up, it seemed. He quickly switched his gaze to another monitor, this time seeing Iida. It was impossible to read his words, so he just had body language to go off of.

_“He’s… I think he’s acting? I think it’s an evil laugh?”_ Kumo guessed. Keiji shook his head.

“Nah, there’s no way he would.” He replied quietly. At that moment, Uraraka seemed to break out laughing from behind a pillar.

_“Hey, I think I was onto something!”_ Kumo said. Keiji crossed his arms again.

“That doesn’t prove anything…” He grumbled quietly to himself. He was sure that Iida would never do something so absurd. Not on camera.

* * *

_-Mere Minutes Earlier-_

Iida paced impatiently around the bomb. He was capable of improving his villainous persona, but with that came a strong discomfort. Playing the role of a heartless villain was hardly what he had set out to do when he came to UA, but if it was truly necessary, he supposed he would have to tolerate it.

It still didn’t make his evil laugh any better, though.

“Mwhahaha… No, it’s still lacking.” He judged. Perhaps laughing louder would help? It was hard to say. Supervillains made this look so easy.

“Perhaps my focus is still lacking.” He told himself, speaking quietly. His thoughts were still clouded. Bakugou’s rampant recklessness had hardly helped matters, only giving him more things to worry about, on top of what was wrong with his friend.

He sighed. It was hardly like a hero to let personal matters distract them. His brother had told him that much. Despite this, he found it difficult to put this into practice when he knew that his friend was hiding something from him, some problem that he wanted to help fix, but couldn’t. He clenched his fists.

_“What kind of hero am I if I can’t even help my friends?”_ He mentally berated himself. He knew he shouldn’t be worried about such things at the moment, but it continued to bother him. He shook his head, attempting to dispel the thought.

“No, I must focus!” He declared. “If Bakugou is going to be so committed to his role, then I should try my hardest as well, even if it pains me.” He went on, before returning to his villainous practice.

“I am… The Ultimate Evil!!” He declared, laughing manically. It was certainly an improvement, maybe even his best work yet. But, he thought, it’s still missing something.

His musings on the subject were interrupted by a sudden laugh, coming from behind a pillar. He recognised the voice immediately.

“So, you have finally arrived, Uraraka.” He said, narrowing his eyes as he spotted her. “I anticipated it as soon as Bakugou charged off on his own.” Not entirely accurate, he knew, but any good villain had to make their plan sound as well-thought out as possible. And his strategy was nothing if not well thought out.

“I understand that your Quirk allows you to levitate objects,” He monologued. What villain was complete without a monologue? Not a very good one, Iida thought. “So, in order to counteract it, I have removed any and all objects from the floor!” He revealed dramatically, gesturing to the spotless surface of the room. “Your tricks are truly worthless here, ‘hero’! I have outwitted you!!” He declared with another maniacal laugh. Uraraka nervously backed away in response, tapping her communicator.

“Deku!!” She said with urgency. There was a very brief pause before she continued. “Iida’s spotted me. I’m trying to back away, but…” She was interrupted suddenly, and when she spoke again, it was a more confident declaration. “Fifth floor, right in the centre!” She quickly said. Beneath his mask, Iida raised an eyebrow.

“What could they be planning?” He wondered. “There is so little time left, I doubt they could have a master plan this late in the game.” He readied himself for anything, with no clear idea of what was about to happen.

* * *

Keiji watched as Iida appeared to be glaring down at Uraraka, but Kumo interrupted before he could see what they would do.

_“Hey, buddy,”_ The spider asked, surprising Keiji with his nervousness. “You’re gonna want to see this…” Keiji glanced over, noticing that the spider was observing another monitor.

“(Why, what’s up-)” Keiji’s whispered response died off in his throat as he watched the screen. Bakugou had Deku cornered, and had his arm stretched out. Keiji followed his words, and gasped in shock.

“T-t-that can’t be… Surely he wouldn’t…” He found himself saying out loud, drawing eyes to him. He turned swiftly to All-Might.

“Sir, you’ve got to stop this! Someone could die!” He yelled urgently. All-Might raised his microphone in response and spoke with matching urgency.

“BAKUGOU. STOP IT NOW, KID.” He announced with a firm quality in his voice that Keiji found intimidating. “ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL HIM?!” The response that Keiji saw from Bakugou had him frozen in place.

_“He won’t die if it’s not a direct hit!!”_ Bakugou seemed to call out. Those were the only words spoken before a massive explosion eclipsed the screen, blinding everyone with its light. The force could be felt even down in the basement, shaking the entire room.

“I thought this was just practice!” Keiji heard the red-haired boy from before called out, whilst All-Might expressed an immediate concern for Deku.

“Tell that to Baka-gou!” Keiji replied. “He’ll destroy the whole building!” He berated. All-Might seemed to disagree.

“NO.” He said simply, before raising his microphone once more. “BAKUGOU. USE THAT MOVE AGAIN, AND I WILL END THE MATCH.” He warned. “REGARDLESS OF WHICH SIDE YOU’RE ON, IT’S A FOOLISH MOVE TO RISK SUCH DAMAGES. YOU WILL LOSE IF IT HAPPENS AGAIN.” He concluded. Bakugou looked angry, but he at least seemed to be unwilling to anger All-Might further. Keiji glared at the screen.

“(That guy’s crazy…)” Keiji hissed under his breath. “(His power is insane, but he’s using it all wrong…)” He said. Kumo hesitated before replying.

“Maybe…” The spider mumbled. “But I’m not so sure. He’s thought this through more than you think.” He argued. Keiji couldn’t bring himself to agree, but he supposed that his companion’s words did make sense, so he refrained from answering. They could debate this later. For now, he had to keep watching.

“Iida’s on the move by the way.” Kumo informed him, watching a different screen. It was strange that the hallucination could observe things that he could not. “Apparently, Uraraka can float herself. Still couldn’t reach the bomb, though.” Keiji nodded along, carefully observing the confrontation between Deku and Bakugou. If this wasn’t such a dangerous situation, and he wasn’t friends with Deku in particular, he would have said it made for compelling television. Their dynamic reminded him of those comicbooks his father had shown him.

“His first explosion was used to feint his attack, whilst simultaneously changing course to strike from behind. Impressive.” Keiji heard a boy’s voice say. A quick glance revealed that it was a boy who had covered his whole left side in ice.

“You see this? This is why teenagers should not be costume designers.” Kumo joked. Keiji stifled a laugh. He had to admit, it wasn’t a good look.

“His attitude doesn’t show it, but he’s got quite the strategic mind.” A girl added. Keiji took one glance at her, noticed her costume and its… minimalist design, and glanced away, causing Kumo to giggle on his shoulder.

“Damn, he’s good.” Pokémon-Hair said at the same time. Keiji had to reluctantly nod.

“I hate to admit it, but he’s a lot smarter than I gave him credit for.” Keiji agreed. “If he could just work on his abysmal attitude, he could be a great hero.” His eyes narrowed at the screen, as he watched the downright sadistic way he was brutalising Deku.

“But right now, ‘villain’ seems like the only role he can fill.” He snarled. Perhaps he was being too harsh, but he didn’t find himself caring much. Bakugou was making his blood boil.

_“E-easy there…”_ Kumo seemed frightened. _“L-let’s just take a deep breath, OK?”_ Keiji hesitated, glaring down at his shoulder, but he eventually sighed and began to relax, releasing a breath he hadn’t noticed he was even holding.

“(Thanks.)” Keiji whispered down to Kumo. “(I was really starting to see red there for a sec.)” He added. Kumo appeared to be shaking a little, but he too was calming himself.

_“Yeah, I could tell.”_ His companion replied. _“Try not to do that too much, Ok?”_ Keiji smiled down at him.

“(I’ll try and stay more composed from no-)” He couldn’t even finish, as his Spider-Sense began to go crazy. He looked back to the monitor to see Deku and Bakugou charging at each other, both with determination and rage covering their faces.

“Sir, this looks bad!” He called out, seemingly at the same time as the red-haired boy from before. However, his Spider-Sense calmed down quickly as he observed Deku once more.

“Now, Uraraka!!” Deku called out, his arm rising. He quickly glanced over to the other screen, finding Uraraka holding onto a pillar for dear life.

“Wait.” Was all that Keiji was able to say before a sudden burst of force erupted throughout the whole area once more. The building seemed to shake, and Keiji watched the screens to find that Deku seemed to have caused a large chunk of the roof above him to shatter into pieces and fly up. Uraraka, seeing these chunks come through the floor, managed to grab the pillar she had been clinging onto, which had also come loose, and use it like a bat to send the rocks flying at Iida. Keiji’s jaw hung open.

“WHAT KIND OF A HOME-RUN IS THAT?!?” He shouted, watching as she seemed to use the opportunity to leap up and make another go for the weapon. Meanwhile, Bakugou seemed to be stunned by Deku’s attack. As for Deku himself…

Keiji nearly gagged at the sight.

“N-no way…” was all he could say. Deku’s entire arm was bright red, clearly bruised and almost certainly broken. The fact that he could still keep it up at all was astounding.

“His own Quirk…did that?” He gasped. Kumo seemed to narrow all eight of his eyes.

_“I guess I was wrong.”_ Keiji’s eyes were drawn to the spider, who had taken on a much more serious tone than before.

“(W-what do you mean…?)” He whispered. The spider turned to face him, and Keiji almost flinched at the unnerving black eyed stare.

“HERO TEAM…WINS!!” Keiji barely heard All-Might declare, far too focussed on his companion’s words to him. What he said froze him solid.

_“Maybe he’s more like you than I thought.”_

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just checked and this chapter was eighteen pages. Eighteen. 
> 
> I genuinely don't know how this chapter even...exists?! I'm proud of it, very much indeed, but I just have no idea I wrote it. This is the first chapter to go into much detail about Keiji's life before moving to Japan, and I'm glad to cover it. I've been working on sort of... importing the marvel universe into an MHA version of America ever since. Some of it will come up, some of it won't, we'll see. 
> 
> One of the main things I love about fanfic is the ability to worldbuild around an existing template and add to it. It's fun. 
> 
> Almost as fun as my tumblr, which is linked over here - [See?](https://lordterronus.tumblr.com)


	9. The Eye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After an explosive introduction, Keiji prepares for a difficult battle. Things escalate rather quickly. 
> 
> So does the shaking in his body.

Keiji found everything suddenly falling out of focus at Kumo’s words. Even as Deku was being sent to the nurse’s office, even as All-Might left the room to go and get Bakugou, he could barely see anything other than his imaginary arachnid companion.

And he had never looked quite as vivid as he did in that moment.

“Hey,” Keiji jumped at a sudden tapping on his other shoulder. He turned swiftly, and was relieved to find it was simply Earphone-Girl from earlier. “You alright? You seem a little off.” She asked. Keiji hesitated for a moment, calming himself as best he could. When he spoke again, his voice was clear, though perhaps still a little shaky.

“Y-yeah.” He lied. “I’m alright. Things are o-kay. Nothing’s wrong here!” He felt more like he was trying to convince himself than anyone else, and Earphone-Girl failed to find it convincing. She frowned at him.

“You were talking to yourself all throughout the fight.” Keiji flinched at being caught. “I couldn’t understand it all that well, but you didn’t sound like you were alone. Who were you talking to?” She raised an eyebrow. Keiji struggled with his words in order to try and find any kind of excuse.

“O-oh, that? I do that a-all the time! I-it’s just to help me think.” He lied. Whilst she didn’t seem to be convinced, Earphone-Girl did thankfully drop the subject, albeit with some reluctance.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine. Just say that next time, ok?” She sighed, and Keiji smiled nervously.

“Thanks. What’s your name, by the way?” Keiji changed the subject. The girl’s eyes seemed to widen briefly before she answered.

“Jirou. Kyoka Jirou.” She replied, extending her hand. “And I’m pretty sure everyone caught your name from earlier.” She joked, and Keiji laughed a little. It was much more relaxing to be talking to someone naturally, with none of his own baggage in the way. It was just what he needed.

“I guess. It’s Keiji Parker, in case you forgot.” He took her hand and shook it. “I’d prefer just being called Keiji, though.” Jirou smirked back at him.

“Yeah, I think I heard you the first three times.” She quipped, gesturing to her ears, and the seemingly attached earphone pieces, which did a little wave as she pointed.

“I-I just like being thorough.” Keiji defended. “You Quirk looks pretty cool, by the way. How does it work?” He asked. Jirou raised an eyebrow. “Oh, these?” She gestured to her ears and Keiji nodded. “They’re not that cool, but they do come in handy a lot. I can use them to channel the sound of my heartbeat. Plus, they also help me hear stuff.” She explained.

“That’s awesome! It’s like Present Mic’s Quirk, but more metal!” Keiji excitedly said. “Plus, you could use that in some really useful ways in a stealth mission, like spying on private conversations through walls or creating a distraction by projecting your heartbeat through an air vent, or-.” He went on, before noticing the amused expression on her face.

“What?” he asked. “D-did I say something wrong?”

“No, I’m just surprised.” Jirou said with a smirk. “You seem pretty fascinated by Quirks.” She explained, and Keiji rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

“I spend pretty much all my free-time on hero forums analysing them.” He admitted, his face going just a little red beneath his mask. “I talk to a lot of people there, since I don’t really have many friends over here.” He explained, causing Jirou to raise an eyebrow.

“You mean at UA? ‘Cause I thought you were friends with Midoriya.” She asked. Keiji froze for a moment, before shaking his head with a chuckle.

“No, I meant I don’t have a lot of friends in Japan.” He elaborated. “I lived in the US until about four years ago, and I didn’t have many friends there either, aside from a small group. They’re all staying either back in America, or…” Keiji thought for a moment. “I think Harry said he was heading to I-Island at some point, so maybe there.” He thought aloud, causing Jirou to question him.

“Wait, I-Island? Isn’t that the artificial research place for scientists to do Quirk stuff?” Keiji chuckled slightly at the description. “Why do you have friends there?” She asked. Keiji hesitated. It wasn’t exactly an easy thing to explain without giving away… unpleasant details. He made sure to keep things brief.

“Well, Harry’s the current CEO of Oscorp.” He answered. “He’s about the same age as me, but after… an _incident_ , involving his father being arrested; he took over the family company. He’s been working hard for it ever since.” He found himself chuckling as he thought back to the last time the two saw each other. “He really doesn’t sleep very well.” He added in a nostalgic fashion.

It was certainly strange that he had become best friends with Harry Osborn Junior, given the past between the two families, but fate was known to act in the most peculiar of ways.

“Whoa.” Jirou seemed impressed, and Keiji couldn’t help but feel both a little proud of his friend, and maybe a little awkward. “How’d you make friends with a CEO kid like that?” Keiji took a moment to think of an appropriate answer.

“I’m sorry, that’s pretty personal.” He settled on. She _was_ the person that told him to just say if he didn’t want to talk about it, after all. “It was… not the most pleasant of introductions. I’ll leave it at that.” He concluded. Jirou nodded, respecting his privacy.

“No problem. I was just curious.” She shrugged. Her earphone-like lobes seemed to twitch upwards for a moment. “Hey, I think All-Might and the others are coming back.” She said, pointing a thumb towards the entrance to the basement, which seemed to open up, allowing All-Might to come through. He was followed first by Iida, who out of all three of the returning students looked the most collected. Behind Iida, Uraraka followed, looking sad and uncomfortable despite her victory. Keiji understood why immediately. She must have already seen what had happened to Deku. She was also probably pretty exhausted from the fight anyway.

Then there was Bakugou.

Shell-shocked was the first thing that occurred to Keiji as he saw the expression on Bakugou’s face. Keiji wondered as to what could have shaken him up quite so much. Was he shocked by the incredible force of Deku’s Quirk? Or was it the fact that he had lost that had caused this response?

_“M-maybe he just feels bad about what happened?”_ Kumo offered, surprising Keiji. He almost jumped again, but managed to hold himself back. It took him a moment to respond to the spider, still uncertain how to approach their last words to one another.

_“(Doubtful.)”_ He thought in response. _“(He doesn’t seem like the type to be worried about the consequences of his actions like that. Plus, I’m pretty sure he hates Deku.”_ He answered. Kumo appeared to nod his head.

_“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”_ The spider said. _“I hope he doesn’t stay this way.”_ Keiji scoffed at his words, which, much to his surprise, went unnoticed.

_“(I don’t think he’s changing anytime soon.)”_ Keiji said. He didn’t expect much from Bakugou at his point beyond raw power. He may have been capable of very intricate strategy, but his actions only reflected his battle instinct as opposed to clever tactics. It was scary just how effective that was for him, but at the same time, Keiji found it surprisingly relieving.

Thanks to his Spider-Sense, Keiji was pretty sure he could outmatch anyone acting purely on instinct. He was rather fortunate to have a natural advantage in that department.

All-Might loudly coughed, gathering everyone’s attention. “WELL, I’D HAVE TO SAY…” He began, and Keiji was once again grateful for the thoughtfulness of Mr. Morales to have his mask reduce the impact of All-Might’s voice on his senses. “THE MVP OF THIS FIGHT WOULD BE IIDA!” He announced. Keiji nodded, instantly agreeing, but others seemed more confused. Iida himself let out a surprised scream.

“WHAT?!” He yelled in shock. No one seemed to pay that any mind to that, as someone else spoke up.

“Neither of the two winners?” Keiji looked over to find that the person speaking was a girl, whose costume strongly resembled a frog. It was actually a rather cute design, he thought. However, he was more interested in her words.

“I think calling them ‘winners’ is being a little generous.” The words just slipped out of his throat, and he immediately regretted voicing them. Uraraka looked over to him with a frown.

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?!” She questioned. “We _did_ win, you know.” She argued. Keiji froze up and struggled to answer.

“W-well, I mean _technically_ , but…” He hesitated, noticing Uraraka narrowing her eyes. “I mean, your plan was clever, and pretty impressive, but… It would never work if this was real.” He managed to get out. Fortunately, someone else took over for him.

“Keiji is correct.” The girl with the minimalist costume intervened. Keiji gave a small nod of thanks. She turned to face All-Might. “Uraraka and Deku’s plan, while effective, was far too risky and only worked because of the limits of the exercise. Deku and Bakugou were also clearly basing their actions off of a personal grudge.” Bakugou turned his head, scoffing but not denying her words.

“Don’t you sulk.” Yet again, Keiji spoke without thinking. Bakugou glared at him harshly, and he returned it with a glare of his own.

“Shut your goddamn mouth, Lucky! I’ll blow you to shreds!” Keiji found himself scared internally, but his mouth seemed to have different ideas

“Try me.” He found himself answering before he could stop himself. “You’ll be on the ground before a single spark flies.” Even he was surprised by how downright cocky he was sounding. Bakugou was fuming, but the girl from before coughed loudly, diverting their attention.

“If you would let me _finish._ ” She glared at the two of them, but Keiji in particular, who stopped and shrunk back.

“S-sorry, go on.” He nervously said, causing the girl to nod before turning back to All-Might.

“As I was saying, Midoriya and Bakugou were approaching the exercise as a grudge match, which ultimately cost them both dearly.” Bakugou seemed to clench his fists at her words, whilst Keiji looked down, feeling just a little shame. His righteous indignation towards Bakugou had momentarily overtaken his concern for his friend’s wellbeing.

_“Don’t worry about it.”_ Kumo comforted. _“I’m sure he’ll be fine. He’s with Recovery Girl, so there’s no way he’s in any serious danger. And besides, Baka-gou had it coming!”_ Keiji struggled not to laugh at Kumo’s continued commitment to Bakugou’s apparent new nickname.

“Iida, meanwhile, came up with a valid counter-strategy, and he envisioned the scene as though it was real. He only lost due to being too slow to react at the final moment.” The girl concluded her explanation. Iida, who had removed his helmet, was looking visibly touched by the praise. He seemed to be shaking on his feet, but somehow in a good way.

“E-EXCELLENT ANALYSIS, YAOYOROZU! BRAVO!” All-Might declared. Keiji looked over, and All-Might appeared to be shaking just a little as he spoke. “THOUGH I MIGHT ADD THAT IIDA WAS A LITTLE STIFF.” Yaoyorozu nodded calmly at his words before turning to address the whole class.

“We’ve got to start from the bottom and work our way up!” She declared. “Without each other’s support, we cannot become top heroes!” Keiji nodded at the little speech she gave.

_“Someone should really tell Baka-gou that.”_ Kumo added, causing a brief chuckle to escape from Keiji’s mouth before he managed to cut himself off. For a hallucination of mysterious origin, Kumo certainly had a quick wit.

“WITH THAT SAID,” All-Might drew the class’s attention once again. “DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY QUESTIONS?!” Keiji’s hand shot up quickly.

“AH, YOUNG PARK-” Keiji cut him off before he could even finish.

“It’s Keiji. Seriously, I told you at least three times.” He glared at All-Might, before letting out a frustrated sigh. “Is Midoriya going to be ok?” He asked with more genuine concern. All-Might looked surprised as he answered.

“AH, MY APOLOGIES.” All-Might offered. Keiji didn’t say anything as he continued. “I-IN ANY CASE, YOUNG MIDORIYA WILL BE PERFECTLY FINE! I’M SURE RECOVERY GIRL WILL HAVE HIM BACK ON HIS FEET IN NO TIME!” He explained with a booming laugh. “BUT FOR NOW, WE MUST SELECT THE NEXT BATTLE!!” Keiji reluctantly nodded.

“Fair enough. But isn’t the building too damaged?” Keiji tilted his head as he asked. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for anyone to go up there right now.” All-Might nodded in response.

“THANKFULLY, THAT WILL BE NO PROBLEM!” All-Might answered with confidence. “IT WILL BE SIMPLE TO RELOCATE! WE AREN’T EXACTLY SHORT ON BUILDINGS, YOU KNOW!” He laughed again. Keiji blinked up at him.

“OK, but what about this Observation Room? Are we staying here?” All-Might nodded in response.

“OF COURSE! REST ASSURED, THIS ROOM IS IN NO DANGER!” To prove his point, All-Might proceeded to raise his arm to a wall. Keiji’s spider-sense began to act up, and he clutched his head.

“Sir, wait…!” Keiji called out before All-Might proceeded to punch the wall. Contrary to his expectations, however, the wall remained perfectly intact. Keiji’s eyes went wide. “Holy crap, that’s a tough wall…” He breathed out in surprise. All-Might laughed it off.

“NOW, ONTO THE NEXT BATTLE!” All-Might produced the HERO and VILLAIN boxes from before, and reached his hand into them, before proudly showing two spheres, labelled B and I respectively.

“TEAM B WILL BE THE HEROES, AND TEAM I THE VILLAINS!” He announced. Keiji looked around, seeing a boy with one side of his body covered in ice stepping forward. Next to him, there was someone with what looked to be tentacle-like arms, only the front set of which seeming to have hands on them.

_“Ew…”_ Kumo commented, causing Keiji to frown at his non-existent companion.

_“(Don’t judge.)”_ He berated with a whisper. _“(I’m sure his Quirk is perfectly normal, no matter how weird it looks.)”_ He continued. Even he would admit that it looked rather strange, but it was nothing he felt was worth commenting on. Besides, he shot spider webs from his arms and clung to walls through microscopic hairs on his body. He was in no place to judge.

_“Fair enough. It still looks weird, though.”_ Kumo apologized, and Keiji had to nod along with him. He turned his head slightly, seeing a boy with a tail and… what looked to be a walking pair of gloves and boots?

“What the…?” He found himself saying. It was rather a strange sight. He could tell for certain someone was there, but their lack of any visible signs of their presence was peculiar. He guessed that the individual must have had some kind of invisibility Quirk, before a sudden thought popped into his head.

“Wait, are they naked?” He said aloud, surprising the others standing next to him. He noticed that he was getting some rather strange looks, causing his face to turn red beneath his mask.

“W-what?” He managed to squeak out. “I-if they’re invisible, it’s a fair question…” He added hesitantly. He couldn’t escape the feeling that he was being heavily judged. A voice from behind him happened to draw more attention.

“The only naked girl and she’s invisible…” The voice seemed to groan. Keiji turned, but saw no-one. He looked down, and suddenly noticed what looked to be a boy with grapes on his head. “He looked to the sky. “God, what did I ever do to you?!” He exclaimed. Keiji suddenly felt that he understood why they were all judging him a moment earlier, for he was now doing the same.

_“I wonder if those things on his head taste like grapes”_ Kumo pondered aloud. Keiji’s stomach twisted he looked down at the boy.

_“(I…don’t think we should check…)”_ He thought, his face twisting at the thought. Kumo seemed to shrug.

“It’s an injustice!” The small grape boy was still talking. “An outright travesty! Why didn’t I get _her_ as-” Keiji shut him up with a swift web to the mouth. It became sealed shut, much to his relief. And, thinking about it, probably _everyone’s_ relief.

“Dude, just stop.” Keiji groaned at him. The boy seemed to be frantically struggling with the web, barely listening. Keiji sighed. “I’ll tear the web off if you agree to stop talking like that. It’s creepy.” The boy frantically nodded, and Keiji stepped forward.

“Hold still.” He said firmly. “This is probably going to sting…” He said. He picked the boy up with one arm, holding him by the ear. Not the most comfortable or efficient way of doing this, Keiji admitted, but his spider-sense told him it was a bad idea to try grabbing him from the head. With his other hand, Keiji proceeded to rip the webbing off of his mouth. Or at least, he tried. It actually took him a good few tugs to get it off. The boy coughed as soon as it was removed.

“Sorry.” Keiji said, admittedly not feeling all that bad about it. “The web was a little stronger than I thought.” He explained, carefully dropping the boy to the ground, who proceeded to glare up at him before crossing his arms.

“I am so not into that…” Keiji wished he hadn’t heard the boy muttering, but superhuman senses could be a pain, even with his mask keeping things calmer. “Much…” he seemed to add. Jirou seemed to shudder as he spoke, implying that she too had not been spared.

_“Are you sure it was a good idea to remove the web?”_ Kumo asked. Keiji looked down at the boy carefully.

“Honestly, I haven’t got the faintest idea…”

* * *

The next few battles were thankfully much less hectic. They were taking place in a building just across from the one Bakugou had blown a hole into, and no one else seemed to carry the same destructive potential. The boy half-covered in ice – who Keiji had learnt was named Todoroki- did seem to wield power that was similarly impressive, but Keiji couldn’t see any way he could destroy a building by freezing it.

_“Maybe if he froze it in a lot of ice, then slammed something into it?”_ Kumo contributed. Keiji nodded, accepting the logic behind that. Although there was one flaw in the idea.

_“(He’d have to already have something to use though.)”_ He countered. _“(Maybe he should have some kind of weapon, like a baton?)”_ He considered. Kumo seemed to tilt his head, something that looked rather strange for the spider, whose head also included his body.

_“That could work.”_ Kumo agreed. _“Then again, I doubt he really needs any destructive power if he can instantly restrain targets like that.”_ Keiji chuckled in agreement.

_“(Good point.)”_ He replied. The two had been surprisingly amicable with one another throughout the different battles, discussing their classmates’ strategies and offering each other commentary. Whilst they might not have got along perfectly – Keiji in particular was still wary around Kumo – the two had found some common ground in their analysis. It helped to ease the earlier tension, even if only a little. They were also lucky to go by relatively unnoticed, with everyone else engrossed in the fights themselves.

Speaking of which, not many were left to go through. The small smirk on his face fell as he realized that soon he would have to fight his own battle, on his own. He would be lying if he said the thought didn’t excite him at _all_ , but it was still worrying. He wasn’t overly confident in his combat abilities, regardless of how much he had trained in the past. Just the thought of going into the arena made his body feel tense. 

_“Don’t worry, you’ll do great!”_ Kumo tried to comfort him, but he found the gesture feeling hollow.

_“(I… don’t know.)”_ He admitted. _“(I’m not sure how well I can compete with these people. They’re all pretty strong.)”_ He looked around nervously at his classmates. He had seen many of their Quirks in action, and they all appeared rather difficult to counter. On top of that, despite Keiji’s seeming edge in experience, they all seemed very proficient in battle.

_“Don’t think that!”_ Kumo continued to encourage him. _“All you have to do is web them up! It’ll be a piece of cake!”_ Keiji hesitantly nodded, not quite certain of his companion’s words.

“(I guess.)” He whispered back. “(L-let’s just wait and see who we’ll be fighting.)” He watched as the participants of the last battle were analysed. At this point, it had become rather clear that All-Might had little to no idea what he was doing. Frankly, Yaoyorozu was doing more of the post-battle analysis than him. No one seemed to be bothered though. All Might’s presence seemed to make the whole lesson more enjoyable for everyone, regardless of his actual teaching skills. Keiji had to admit that, whilst All Might hardly seemed to be a qualified teacher, he was still a good fit in the role of inspiring students.

_“If only he could play his part as well as he could stand in for it.”_ Kumo grumbled, and Keiji nodded in agreement. If All Might was half as good at teaching as he was at inspiring the class, he could even rival Uncle Aizawa.

_“(Nah, that’s reaching too far.)”_ He mentally chuckled. _“(There’s only one man who could outdo Uncle A.)”_ He added, with just a hint of melancholy. Kumo instantly realised where his thoughts were going, and made to disrupt them.

_“It doesn’t matter right now.”_ Keiji snapped out of his melancholy at his companion’s words. _“We should try and stay focused for our battle!”_ Keiji nodded.

“(You’re right. Now’s no time to get all lost in thought. Let’s do this!)” He cheered quietly as the last two teams went back into line. He braced himself for anything. He just had to keep calm.

_“As long as it’s not Baka-gou, we’ll be fine!”_ Kumo commented, and Keiji agreed. With a good strategy, he was sure he could manage against most of the other students. Though some did present more challenges than others. Todoroki was the second biggest threat for him, as his ice could limit his movement, but he could counter that easily with some well-placed webs.

“AND NOW, IT IS TIME FOR THE FINAL MATCH!” All-Might announced. “YOUNG KEIJI, PLEASE STEP FORWARD!” He continued, shocking the boy in question. Keiji hesitantly stepped towards All-Might, who had yet again produced the same HERO and VILLAIN boxes from the previous matches. Keiji raised an eyebrow.

“How is this supposed to work?” He asked, to which All-Might laughed. Surprisingly, his tone was quieter than it had been before. He must have been getting a little worn out from everything. At least Keiji didn’t have to cover his ears now.

“IT’S VERY SIMPLE!” He began to explain. “SIMPLY CHOOSE AT RANDOM FROM EITHER BOX. YOUR OPPONENTS SHALL REVEAL THEMSELVES AND YOU SHALL TAKE THE OPPOSITE SIDE.” Keiji nodded along. It seemed rather straight-forward. He considered which side he should pick.

_“(The Villain side seems like the safest bet.)”_ He thought, and Kumo agreed with a nod.

_“True, that way you can prepare the battlefield and hopefully get the jump on your enemies.”_ He reasoned. Keiji stepped towards the HERO box to select his opponents, staying silent in response to Kumo’s words. He had to stay focussed, after all.

“OH? INTERESTING CHOICE, YOUNG KEIJI!” All-Might commented. Keiji rolled his eyes, focussing purely on the box. His hand rummaged around inside for a moment, before it finally grasped onto one of the orbs. Keiji drew it back and looked at it.

Beneath his mask, his face went pale.

“VERY WELL!” All-Might decreed from over his shoulder, taking the ball from his hand and showing it to the rest of the class. “KEIJI PARKER IS THE VILLAIN, AND TEAM D WILL TAKE THE ROLE OF HEROES!” He announced. Keiji could only think of one word to respond with.

“(Fuck.)” He said to himself, though All-Might seemed to catch it.

“Language, Young Keiji.” He warned in a much quieter tone than usual, so as to not attract attention. Keiji narrowed his eyes at the man.

“Fakku.” He replied, crossing his arms. All-Might seemed both amused and mildly annoyed.

* * *

It didn’t take very long for Keiji to get to the building that would be his battlefield. Honestly, he was expecting to be taunted by his opponents, but to his surprise both of them remained silent. Iida remaining quiet as he thought of a cunning strategy was not entirely unexpected, but Bakugou not taking an opportunity to taunt him whatsoever?

Either Keiji had inexplicably gone deaf, or Bakugou was up to something. Keiji sincerely wished it could’ve been the former.

_“You’ll do fine!”_ Kumo encouraged. It failed to make him feel much better about his odds. _“I can even help this time! Remember the first fight?”_ Keiji thought for a moment, trying to grasp the spider’s meaning before it dawned on him.

“You said that you would watch Iida…” He breathed. “You said you would show me what you saw.” He turned sharply to face Kumo, who appeared to be attempting to grin, something that would be impossible for him to pull off with his regular chelicerae.

“W-what the hell were you talking about?” Keiji tried to understand, but found himself only more confused by his companion. “How can you show me anything? You aren’t even real!” He exclaimed. Kumo seemed to laugh a little.

_“Maybe, but I do know how to help! Just close your eyes for a sec, OK?”_ Kumo offered. With some reluctance, Keiji closed his eyes and let out a deep breath, bracing himself for anything. It wouldn’t stop his right hand from shaking, but hopefully he would at least be more prepared.

He was not prepared.

As soon as his eyes were shut, they seemed to open somewhere else. Everything was far bigger than it had been a moment ago, and he was back in the observation room. His eyes were fixed, he couldn’t move at all. His attention was fixed on a screen, observing Iida move at blistering speeds, removing loose objects and bits of debris from a room.

The shock was too much. His eyes flung themselves open, and he was back in the real world. He was back to standing in front of the building.

“Deep breaths… Deep breaths…” He told himself as he struggled to control his breathing, his heart rate even more so. It took him a few moments, but he eventually managed to compose himself.

It lasted all of five whole seconds, which as far as Keiji was concerned, was worthy of a medal the least, if not a statue in his honour.

“What the hell was that?! How did you do that?!” He was stumbling over his words, but he didn’t care. He had questions, and he needed an answer. “What even are you?!” He barely managed to stop himself from screaming.

Kumo simply shrugged in response.

_“I wish I knew.”_ The spider answered, causing Keiji to glare at it. _“I’m serious! I don’t know much more than you do! All I can tell you is what I have. I want answers just as much as you do.”_ Keiji scoffed.

“I find that hard to believe, since you don’t _give_ any answers in the first place!” He interrupted Kumo’s rebuttal. “And don’t you dare play dumb with me. I know you’re hiding something. How you know more than me is another issue, but you’re not telling me everything.” He took a deep breath, which became a frustrated sigh as it exited. “Whatever. Let’s just get this over with.”

_“W-wait!”_ Kumo attempted, but Keiji dismissed his companion.

“Can’t you just shut up for _once?!_ ” He hissed. He took a deep breath and steadied his voice to speak again, this time more annoyed than outright mad. “I just want to focus. Too much shit’s been going on and I just want to get this over with.” He said. “Let’s just do this already.” He made to move towards the building, but was interrupted by a sudden voice.

“YOU MIGHT NEED THIS STUFF, FIRST!” All-Might’s voice suddenly appeared, causing Keiji to jump in surprise. He looked back at the man with wide eyes. He was holding a map of the building in one hand a role of Capture Tape in the other.

“R-right. Of course.” Keiji mumbled. “Just… out of curiosity, h-how much…” Keiji started, before stopping himself. If All-Might hadn’t heard his little conversation with Kumo, then asking how much he had heard would only draw attention to him. His hesitation seemed to catch All-Might’s eye anyway, however, and he answered another question.

“Rest Assured, Aizawa Told Me Only The Bare Essential Information Regarding Your Condition.” He was speaking in a much quieter tone, one that caught Keiji off-guard. He looked up with wide eyes at the hero. “He Didn’t Go Into Much Detail, Only That It Was Of Great Importance.” Keiji nodded.

“I see. That’s a relief.” He sighed. It was indeed relieving to not have to worry about All-Might knowing the full story. That would only cause more problems for him, and he had enough to worry about today without adding that to the pile.

“If… If You Have Any Issues, Please Do Not Hesitate To Inform Me.” All-Might offered, handing Keiji a micro-transceiver. Keiji took it, letting out a faint chuckle in response.

“Thanks, but I’ll be fine on my own. I better be, anyway.” He half-joked. All-Might looked unsure as he spoke again.

“Are You Certain?” He asked. “I Don’t Want To Put Anyone At Risk.” Keiji sighed. He was really starting to lose his patience.

“I’m _fine._ ” He emphasised, though he failed to look All-Might in the eyes as he spoke. “You don’t need to worry on me, I’m not-” He suddenly stopped himself. “Just…don’t worry.” He finished reluctantly, his voice sounding quiet. All-Might seemed to loom over him for a moment longer, before relenting.

“VERY WELL THEN!” The sudden shift in volume surprised Keiji, who covered his ears in shock. “JUST BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!” He requested. Keiji nodded back frantically. He had chosen the worst possible time to try and remove is mask and place in the micro-transceiver.

“Alright, alright, I will. Just lower the volume, dammit!” He called back as he walked into the building. All-Might gave him a thumbs up, before departing swiftly, leaving a small amount of smoke in his wake.

_“Did…did he just run back fast enough to ignite the ground?”_ Kumo asked, to which Keiji could only nod dumbfounded.

“I guess…? He said, before shaking his head. “Whatever, just shut up and let me focus.” He said, looking into the hallway. Kumo sighed within his head.

_“I’m just trying to help.”_ He argued. Keiji paid him no mind. He had other priorities.

“Iida’s speed is the biggest issue. I’ll need to find some way of limiting his movement…” He muttered to himself. Mercifully, Kumo had decided to stay silent for once. It was relieving to be able to plan in peace.

Carefully, he jumped around the walls of the building, attaching webs to either end, creating a complex maze. It was kind of like those laser grids that always showed up in spy movies, like the James Bond movies he would watch with his father. It was a shame that even in the age of heroes, there were no openings for the career of ‘gentleman spy’.

“That should help, but it’s missing something…” He muttered to himself. This time, Kumo saw fit to address the issue in Keiji’s plan.

_“You’ll need something to keep the bomb protected. It’s idiotic to leave it undefended.”_ Kumo said, with a trace of bitterness in his tone. _“But I suppose you don’t need me to tell you anything like that.”_ Keiji rolled his eyes.

“Look, can we talk about this later?” He gestured towards his left ear, in which a micro-transceiver was placed that fed back into the observation room. “Now isn’t exactly the best time to air our respective grievances.” Kumo sighed as he spoke.

_“Fine. Ignore all your problems. Because that’s been working_ sooo _well for us.”_ Keiji glared at the spider, who crossed his most front two legs in response. He glared for a moment, before dismissing the issue. Kumo rolled all eight of his eyes.

“Maybe I can wrap the bomb up in webbing…” He went back to strategising, heading towards the bomb located on the fifth floor, or so his map told him. He filled the remainder of the building with a maze of webs as he went, searching for the exact location of the bomb.

It wasn’t hard to find, with it being the biggest object in the room. It was at least twice the height of Keiji himself, but further inspection revealed that he could lift it with just a finger.

“Huh, it’s just made of paper.” He said to himself, twirling the bomb in his finger. He quickly put it back on the ground, and began to wrap it in a silk-like armour of web. “Hopefully that’ll keep it safe during the fighting.” He said. “Now I just have to try and act like a proper villain.” He took a moment to think. What kind of villain would intimidate two Pros easily and create the kind of mass destruction of a nuclear bomb?

_“You could go for a Goblin impression.”_ Kumo suggested, to Keiji’s slight annoyance. He had to admit, though, it was a good plan. If intimidation was his aim, why not go for the most terrifying villain he knew for inspiration? In theory, it was a solid plan. Maybe he could even try to scare his opponents to throw them off balance.

“I’ll… give it a shot.” He went into a high-pitched, raspy sort of voice to get the correct effect. If intimidation was going to work on his opponents, it had to be good.

* * *

“HERO TEAM, BEGIN!” The transceiver that Iida wore beneath his helmet filled with All-Might’s voice, signalling them to proceed. He looked towards his partner and the two nodded at each other. Or at least, Iida nodded. Bakugou just seemed to grunt in annoyance, but the head movement was close enough.

“This time, we should probably stay together.” Iida said. “We stand the best chance of overwhelming our opponent if we cooperate.” Bakugou seemed annoyed, but this was hardly unexpected. Ever since the first battle, he had proven to be in a difficult state of mind, and he was hardly agreeable from the start.

“Just don’t get in my way.” He growled. “Lucky’s going to get what’s coming to him…” He punctuated his point with some small explosions that popped in his hands. Iida would have questioned his peculiar choice of nickname for Keiji, but his attention was brought elsewhere as they entered the building.

“What on earth?” He exclaimed. The building was a maze of what looked to be spider webs placed haphazardly all over the hall, all varying in size. The scene looked like it was ripped from a horror movie. Some of the webs appeared to have a faint green tint to them. Iida looked down at his armour, realising just how difficult navigation would be. It was fortunate that he had the aid of someone who could dispel their current obstacle, but if the whole building was laid out like this, then they had a serious issue on their hands. “Hehehe…” An ominous laugh rang out from the building. Iida hastily scanned the room, and saw a figure up on the ceiling.

“Don’t scream or cry or breath, or else you won’t get out alive~! He sang. Iida had to admit, he was capturing the deranged villain act far better than he had. He braced himself for battle before calling out to him in the most valiant voice he could manage.

“Surrender, vile fiend!” He demanded. “Or we will have no choice but to-” He didn’t get the opportunity to finish, as Bakugou blasted himself towards the ceiling. Keiji leapt down swiftly, landing on one of the webs just below. Bakugou had no time to react, as he bounced from the web to deliver a headbutt, slamming him into the roof.

“If that’s the best you have, you’ll die!” Keiji cried out, laughing sadistically. “That simply wouldn’t be enough fun!” He continued. He used the webs as platforms and began to rush towards Iida, his movements frantic. Fortunately, before Iida could even be reached, Bakugou shot a surprise blast to Keiji’s back, having dropped to the ground.

“Don’t you dare underestimate me, you damn insect!” Bakugou’s manic grin was almost more unsettling than Keiji’s villainous performance. “I’m nowhere _close_ to done with you!!” He yelled. Keiji seemed to growl in response.

“I am no mere insect…” He growled. He turned viciously, his expression seemingly full of rage. “I’M AN ARACHNID!” He yelled, meeting Bakugou’s incoming right hook with a counter. With his other hand, he launched a web right into Bakugou’s mask. It was tinted with a sickly green colour.

“Argh!” Bakugou cried out. “What the fuck was that?!” He struggled to pull the web off, something Keiji took full advantage of. He delivered a swift kick to his stomach, causing Bakugou to lurch forwards, before he slammed his hands into his head, forcing him to the ground. Before he could get up, Keiji suddenly crouched onto his back, pinning him to the floor.

“Hehehe…” He laughed eerily. He seemed all too good at filling this particular role. “ _That_ would be my acidic webbing. A relatively new trick. How does it feel?” He taunted. Bakugou could only grunt in response. Suddenly, Keiji’s head twitched violently.

_“Shut it.”_ He sounded as though he was warning someone, yet no one had spoken. “I’ve got this.” He hissed to no one. Iida decided to take advantage of the distraction, sliding underneath the webs rapidly to kick Keiji back. He was fortunate that it had worked, launching him back and away from Bakugou, who finally managed to remove the acid web. Iida gasped as he saw that much of Bakugou’s mask had been disintegrated.

“I’m gonna kill you!” Bakugou launched towards Keiji yet again, tearing through the webs as he went. However, Keiji dodged to the side, and caught Bakugou on a strand of web from his wrist.

“I wouldn’t count on it!” He retorted, tossing Bakugou back. He steadied himself quickly and Keiji seemed to grin in an unsettling fashion. The eyes on his mask twisted upwards as he leered at them.

“See?” He seemed to sigh still talking to himself. “I told you I had this.” Iida noticed that Keiji seemed to be shaking and breathing heavily. He coughed and a sputtering sound was heard from beneath his mask.

“Are you-?” Iida almost managed to ask, but he was interrupted by a sudden outburst from his opponent, that took both of them by surprise.

“Just SHUT UP!” He screamed, suddenly clutching his head. “Shut the hell up. I can’t even think.” Bakugou seemed less concerned, even seeming eager as Keiji seemed to charge in wildly.

“That’s more like it!” He popped some small explosions in his hands as Keiji’s arms thrashed out, trying to land a punch. Whatever had changed, it seemed he was much less collected. Bakugou managed to dodge rather effortlessly, and launch an explosion towards Keiji’s face. His mask was torn apart and he stumbled back.

_“No!”_ He broke character, clutching his now exposed face. A green eye was visible, seeming to glow slightly. It glared up at them. Keiji let out a deathly scream, sounding more like the roar of a dangerous wild animal. He began to charge forwards, but then,

He suddenly stopped.

It was quite the peculiar sight. He seemed to suddenly freeze in place for a moment, his eyes going wide. He went from violent rage to sudden trembling. Then, wordlessly, he ran off rapidly, leaping around the walls to gain speed.

“Hey! Don’t you fucking run!” Bakugou ran off after him, and Iida followed suit, only to find him completely out of sight. They had lost their opponent.

“We should split up to cover more ground.” Iida said, turning to face Bakugou only to find that he had already charged off in a random direction. He sighed. The most he could hope for was that he would at least exercise caution once he had actually found Keiji. If this was some technique to lure them into a trap, it was proving very effective.

_“Still,”_ Iida thought, _“Something is wrong here.”_

* * *

Keiji sprinted frantically across the walls, his previous persona crumbling. The reason for this was difficult to properly explain, even to himself, but something had triggered a primal panic within his very soul.

Kumo said _“ow.”_

The fact that his imaginary hallucination of a companion could feel anything equivalent to pain was alarming in and of itself, but it was not what had him in terror. The fact that it corresponded with pain he felt in his _own_ body was far more alarming. If Keiji was right in what was happening, then he had very little time.

“(Hey, buddy.)” He tried to sound calm as he ran. “(Look, if this is about earlier, then I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it I was just stressed and _please say something already._ )” He urged. Looking towards his shoulder, he saw that Kumo had moved, slightly downwards. He stopped instantly. Keiji let out a brief, frightened scream as he found himself entering into the room with the bomb. He jumped back to the floor.

Looking around, he saw no signs of anyone nearby. He positioned himself behind a pillar. Partially to surprise his opponents should they find him, but mostly to hide himself from view in general.

“Okay,” He breathed deeply, trying to calm himself. “This is fine. I’m fine. I am in control. Everything is just fine.” It took some time, but his shaking eventually seemed to stop. His vision was a little blurry and he felt exhausted, but at least he was OK.

_“Wha- AH!”_ Kumo sounded sleepy as he spoke, before rapidly jumping back to Keiji’s shoulder. _“What just happened?! All I remember was something green and being all tense and and…!”_ Keiji stopped him, raising his hand.

“Calm down.” He said, still not entirely calm himself. “I think we’re OK. For now, that is. I’m not sure when Bakugou and Iida will find us, but I think we have time.” He caught his companion up on exactly what had happened, first explaining the battle, then his freak out over hearing Kumo’s voice.

“Things started to get a little blurry after that.” He admitted. Something had begun to feel off as he fought. He felt as though a red haze had been over everything during the fight, only growing as it continued. “Also, we have Acid webs now.” He added.

_“That doesn’t sound good…”_ Kumo muttered, still sounding strangely distant. It was rather unnerving.

“Tell me about it. They feel all weird, like my blood is boiling in my arms when I fire.” He looked down at his own web shooters. One of them appeared to be bleeding, a thin sliver of shining red leaking.

“I… don’t know how much longer we can last right now.” He admitted. It was clear that he had pushed himself too far, probably by coating the whole building in such a maze of webbing. He really wasn’t ready for going quite so far. The fact that he had been doing Vigilante works all the previous night probably hadn’t helped at all.

_“Think we should try and surrender the match? I mean… if it’s getting worse and all…?”_ Kumo asked. All-Might’s voice spoke into his ear, slightly surprising him.

_“Keiji, Is Everything Alright? Should I Call This Off?”_ He asked. Keiji thought for a moment longer, before answering both All-Might and Kumo.

“No.” He said, holding his hand to the micro-transceiver. “Everything’s under control. I just needed a second to get my bearings. We’ll keep going.” He announced. Kumo seemed to smile, or at least managed as close as a spider could get.

_“We-?”_ Keiji cut off the transceiver before All-Might could further question him. He needed to focus on how to salvage this battle. He only had about five minutes.

_“He had a point.”_ Kumo said. _“We?”_ He asked. It was just one word, but that was all that was needed. Keiji sighed, but when he turned to face Kumo, he had a thin smile on his face.

“Perhaps against my better judgement, yes.” He answered. “We.” Kumo jumped up with joy before Keiji interrupted him. “But that doesn’t mean I trust you. I just… don’t know if I can handle this alone.” He muttered in a warning tone.

_“I hear ya. We still need to talk, after all.”_ Keiji nodded, glad to hear his agreement. _“But for now, we should focus on the fight. Think a second pair of eyes will help us turn this around?”_ Keiji thought for a moment, before sighing.

“I doubt it.” He answered honestly. “We don’t have much time, and we haven’t taken anyone out. The best we can do is maybe get one of them.” Kumo shook his head in response.

_“We’re not giving up that easy, though!”_ He cheered. Keiji grinned a little, but he was still unsure. Pushing himself to his limits earlier had only resulted in problems. Maybe it was better to be realistic about their chances?

_“(No.)”_ He thought. _“(There’s no way Spider-Man would give up like that. Dad wouldn’t, so neither should I.)”_ He was filled with renewed determination. The sounds of footsteps coming closer might have scared him a minute ago, but now he found it exciting. 

“I suppose we have to try, right?” He asked. Kumo’s eight eyes were wide for a moment, before he raised one leg to the air as though punching it with a fist.

“Right!”

* * *

Iida paced carefully into a large room in the fifth floor. He identified an object that appeared to be the bomb that would allow him to win. Alas, it appeared to be covered in webbing as well, serving as a protective armour. It would take him some time to break through and reach the actual bomb.

Furthermore, there was still no sign of Keiji. He thought he had heard running in this direction, but there was nothing.

“Looking for me?” Keiji’s voice suddenly entered the room, and Iida looked up to see him hanging on the roof. This was different, however. He was now speaking in his normal voice, and his grin was much less manic. Overall, he looked strangely composed.

Just what exactly had happened to him over the course of the fight, he wondered. Whatever it was, he seemed different now.

“We’re going to run out of time soon. You’ve done well to get this far.” He said, confidently striding down one of the pillars, before dramatically performing a front flip and landing in a fighting stance.

“But no matter what happens, it ends here.” He declared. “Are you ready?” He seemed to invite Iida to make the first move.

“Are you?” He asked, getting into a fighting stance himself. Keiji let out a light, yet bittersweet sigh.

“I’ll be OK for now.”

“And once this is over?”

“We’ll see.” He said with a hint of hesitation. “Look, we don’t have much time. Do you want to fight, or give me therapy? Trust me, both would be a battle.” He quipped in an attempt to ease the tension. Iida sighed and reluctantly took on a fighting stance himself.

“If this is what you want, then…” He made his voice firm, taking on a more dramatic tone. “I suppose I’ll have to stop you. Face justice, foul villain!” Keiji grinned in response, this time more honestly than his manic expression from before.

“That’s the spirit!” He cheered. “Let’s finish this.” He declared. Suddenly, he attempted to fire off a ball of webbing at Iida, who managed to dodge with his speed. He rushed forwards, but Keiji quickly leapt onto the walls, and continued to fire volleys of webbing at him. He dodged and weaved around the pillars to evade his shots.

Keiji used his webs to swing around to his cover, this time managing to attach a line of webbing to Iida before he could react.

“Got you!” He cheered. Iida used his engines to push in the opposite direction of Keiji’s body, causing him to briefly lose his grip on the roof, making him stumble for a bit. In response, Keiji fired off a web line from his other hand.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Keiji grunted, hauling Iida back with his strength. The two were locked in a brief but intense game of tug-of-war. The roof tiles started to crack under Keiji’s feet and Iida felt himself being pulled back. Rather than push further, however, he came to a sudden stop. The resulting momentum propelled him upwards, where he raised his leg to bring a powerful kick to his opponent.

“Oh shit-!” Keiji panicked, barely managing to bring his arms forwards to block. The force of the blow was staggering, causing him to be launched through a pillar and fall to the ground.

“Ow…” He groaned as he struggled to pull himself back up. “Next time, I’d appreciate a better warning.” He said, seemingly to himself. There was a small pause before he chuckled to himself. “Yeah, I suppose I wouldn’t have expected that either.” He smirked. Iida walked over to him.

“Are you ready to face justice?” He said dramatically. Keiji’s eyes went wide for a moment, and he tried even harder to pull himself back up.

“No, I can keep going, I’m not done, I’m…!” He barely managed to stand, before falling back into a seating position. He sighed. “Ok, maybe I’m done…” He admitted. Iida held his hand out, offering to pull him up, which Keiji obligingly took. With his other hand, Iida wrapped Keiji’s arms in Capture Tape.

“That’s fair, I guess.” Keiji said after a moment of surprise. He looked down at his hands, before facing Iida head-on.

“I’ll have to get you next time, OK?” He smirked. Iida smiled behind his helmet at his friend.

“I’ll try not to make it too easy for you.” Keiji laughed in response.

“Don’t worry, it won’t be.” He laughed, before his smile took on a more determined nature.

“Next time, we’ll be ready.”

“THE VILLAIN HAS BEEN CAPTURED! HERO TEAM WINS!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while, huh? Sorry about that! Real life kinda snuck up on me whilst I was trying to work on chapter 11. 
> 
> This chapter was originally a bit darker and, dare I say it, edgier, but I toned it down while writing it becuase it was starting to be not fun. So now it has a slightly better ending. 
> 
> Spoiler alert, I did not remain so merciful. 
> 
> Also, I still have a tumblr! I've even been putting some poetry up there for fun. Not related to this story, but it's still cool. Link's in the fic notes, because it's been too long and I don't remember the html for it!


	10. Clouded Skies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the battle over, Keiji seeks to see the results of his efforts. Unfortunately, he's close to his breaking point, and his emotions can't be held back. Is he as physically ready to break as he is mentally?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning! - From this point onwards, the story is going to get a little bit intense, with this arc in particular being the main issue. For the next few chapters, the topics of suicide, trauma and depression will come up. Nothing explicit is shown, but there may be some uncomfortable implications from here on. Reader discretion is advised.

“THE VILLAIN HAS BEEN CAPTURED! HERO TEAM WINS!” Bakugou heard All-Might announce through his transceiver on his ear. He was still searching the fourth floor when the announcement came, and it did not sit well with him.

“WHAT?!” He screamed. “Argh, I’m gonna kill that damn Four Eyes. Stealing my fight like that…” He growled to himself. The opportunity for an absolute win had been taken from him, something he could not forgive. He didn’t even get the chance to crush the stupid arachnid beneath his feet and really show him whose boss.

He was pissed.

“I’ll kill him later.” He said through gritted teeth. There was no way All-Might would let him crush the damn bug right now. He just had to hope they would get to fight again, so that he could make him pay for tarnishing his awesome costume and insulting him. He grumbled under his breath all the way out the building.

* * *

“You know, I’m surprised Bakugou didn’t get to me first.” Keiji admitted to Iida, as he was escorted out of the building. “I would’ve thought he’d have rushing to thrash me after the trash-talk I was giving him earlier.”

“Indeed. I suppose you were fortunate that I reached you first, then.” Iida replied, his eyes forward. Keiji grinned at him and nodded his head.

“You’re right there!” He agreed cheerfully. “I would’ve hated to lose to _Baka-_ gou. The guy really grinds my gears.” He frowned at the thought of the foul-mouthed walking bomb catching him first. That _really_ wouldn’t have helped him keep his cool. If anything, things would’ve gotten worse.

_“And they weren’t all that good to begin with...”_ Kumo commented from Keiji’s shoulder. He nodded his head slightly in agreement with his imaginary companion. The two had just managed a reluctant peace during the end of their battle, and it was still uncertain if it would last beyond that. For the time being, Keiji was honestly too exhausted to be hostile. Once he had recovered, then the two would have to discuss some things.

“Honestly,” Keiji started, glancing towards Iida. “I’m kind of glad I lost to you.” He admitted, much to the other boys’ surprise. “It seems fitting that only the next Ingenium could beat the next Spider-Man. Your brother must have trained you well.” He spoke in admiration towards his opponent. Behind his helmet, Iida blushed at the high praise. He coughed before speaking.

“Actually, I’m mostly self-trained.” Keiji’s head spun towards Iida with a look of pure shock on his face. “Whilst my brother did assist me from time to time, he was often too busy with his agency.” He continued. Keiji stared in amazement at him.

“You’re amazing!!” He couldn’t stop himself from gushing, impressed as he was. “I had a whole bunch of training with Dad and Uncle A-” He coughed for a moment, causing Iida to quirk up his eyebrow. “I-I mean, with Dad and my Uncle, but you still took me down _hard_!” He praised, making Iida turn away from him a little.

“I-I am certain I am not _that_ impressive-” Keiji cut off Iida’s humble attempts to brush off his words.

“You really are!” He insisted. “I guess I’ll have to work myself to the bone to catch up!” He said, laughing a little. Whilst Iida might not have been ready to admit it, his skills were well beyond what Keiji had expected, and were certainly worthy of high praise. Admittedly, Keiji wasn’t exactly at peak performance during their fight, but that didn’t make Iida any less impressive. He wasn’t lying when he said he needed to work hard to catch up. 

_“You know, one of the best ways to learn is through experience~.”_ Kumo chimed in. _“Just saying.”_ Keiji immediately figured out what he was talking about. He fought back a sigh as he considered his response.

_“(Fine.)”_ He relented reluctantly. _“(I’ll consider the whole ‘Weaver’ Vigilante idea. I’ll just need to work it into_ _my schedule better.)”_ He yawned out loud. _“(I still need to sleep at_ some _point, after all.)”_ Kumo jumped for joy at his response, clearly eager to pursue this idea further.

“I-if you insist.” Iida drew Keiji’s attention again, as he tentatively agreed with his earlier praise. “But that is hardly important at the moment.” His voice became more stern, and Keiji sighed, already anticipating what he was about to say. 

“Are you-?” Keiji cut Iida off sharply. He was sick of hearing this question by now. Yet, people still kept repeating it. It was really getting on his nerves.

“Stop worrying about me, I don’t _deserve_ it!” He found himself shouting before he could stop himself. His eyes went wide immediately thereafter, and his hands clasped his mouth.

“P-Pardon?” Iida managed to say, being surprised himself at Keiji’s sudden outburst. Keiji’s face was pale as snow, and when he spoke again, it was barely a whisper.

“I…” He struggled. “Why did I…?” He tried again, still no luck. “What am I saying…?” finally, the words managed to slip free from his mouth. He was frozen in place, and tears were forming around his eyes.

“Keiji?!” Iida said in surprise, before taking a deep breath, and seeming to calm himself. He turned Keiji towards him and spoke sternly.

“Calm down.” He said. Keiji strained himself in an attempt not to cry. He wasn’t sure what had suddenly gone wrong, but everything suddenly felt uncomfortable. He was breathing too fast. His heart was racing, his body was shaking, nothing was right and he hated it and just wanted it to stop and why wouldn’t it stop, _It just had to stop-_

“Keiji!” Iida managed to snap him out of it, if only for a moment. “Breathe.” He commanded, and Keiji did so, taking a deep breath. It calmed him a little. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on his breathing alone. He rested one hand on his head. It felt as though it was about to explode, but he didn’t pay attention to it.

_“(Calm down…)”_ He thought slowly to himself. _“(Whatever that was, it doesn’t matter. You just have to keep calm. It’ll pass.)”_ He thought. _“(These things always do.)”_ Despite his mind’s reassurances, his body still felt uncomfortable. Hot sweat beaded down his brow.

It felt like it took an eternity, but eventually, he finally began to calm himself back down. He straightened himself and looked up at Iida.

“Thanks.” He said, his voice still shaky. “I needed that.” Iida raised his hand in response.

“It is no trouble. A hero always helps those in need.” He hesitated. “Should you ever need my help, do not hesitate to ask.” Keiji let out a light sigh, before chuckling to himself. Before long, it had become a full on laughing fit. Iida raised an eyebrow.

“S-sorry.” He said between laughs, wiping his eyes. “It’s just…” He paused. “Dad said the same thing once.” He said with a melancholy tone. For a moment, Iida briefly panicked.

“Ah, I’m sorry if I brought on bad memories-!”

“No, no, it’s fine! It didn’t even occur to me!”

“Nevertheless, it was insensitive-”

“Don’t be ridiculous, you had no idea-”

“Oi!” Bakugou’s voice shouted at the both of them, causing them to turn and face the boy. He wore a particularly aggressive scowl on his face as he glared at them. Keiji flinched. “Get your asses moving already! I’m sick of looking at your faces.”

“Bakugou, that behaviour is entirely uncalled for-!” Iida tried to admonish him, but Bakugou refused to listen.

“Like I give a damn! Just get out of my fucking sight!” He yelled back. It was at that moment that he glanced toward Keiji, finally noticing him. Keiji, for his part, only trembled a little. He tried to keep his expression level.

_“What’s he looking at?”_ Kumo growled in Bakugou’s direction, an act that the boy would unfortunately miss. Keiji tried to match the spider’s glare.

“The hell happened to you?” Bakugou glared at him with a raised eyebrow. Iida immediately raised an arm in front of Keiji in a defensive manner. The action surprised Keiji, who looked up at him with wide eyes, blinking.

“I am certain that it does not pertain to you. I would highly suggest that you leave the matter alone and leave.” Iida’s voice was cold and rigid, like ice. There was a shadow cast over his eyes as he seemed to glare at Bakugou, who furrowed his brow in response.

“Eh?” He questioned. “You trying to threaten me, Four-Eyes?” He leered at Iida, popping a few explosions in his hand menacingly. Iida remained headstrong, however, and didn’t appear to react.

“It’s not a threat, it’s a demand. _Leave it._ ” He said, unnervingly calm. It reminded Keiji a little bit of Aizawa. Bakugou growled in response, his face falling into a scowl.

“Don’t you tell me what to fucking do!” He yelled. Keiji flinched back, concerned at this point that Bakugou was planning on starting a fight. Much to his surprise, however, he simply turned and marched off, grumbling to himself. Keiji raised an eyebrow.

_“Isn’t this the part where he tries to kill you?”_ Kumo asked, sounding confused. _“I feel like I missed something_ _there…”_ Keiji nodded his head slightly in agreement, before turning towards Iida. He heard him let out a sharp exhale before lowering his arm.

“We should probably get going.” He said, sounding a little more natural. Keiji rapidly turned to Bakugou, then Iida, then Bakugou again. He blinked.

“How…” He struggled to speak for a moment, having been left speechless. “How did you do that?!” He cried out in surprise. Iida looked at him confused.

“How did I do what?” Keiji couldn’t tell if Iida was messing with him as the boy replied with clear confusion. If he was, then he was _very_ good at it. Keiji laughed out of sheer shock.

“You know what, never mind.” He said with a small smile on his face. “You really are amazing, huh?” Before Iida could respond, he started to walk forwards. Once he reached the staircase down to the next floor, he turned back and waved at Iida.

“Come on! Baka-gou’s probably nearly out by now, we should hurry!” He called out. Iida blinked before nodding and using his speed, he closed the distance between them quickly.

“O-of course!” Iida declared. “We should be sure to be punctual, as is fitting of this fine institution!” Keiji chuckled a little as he spoke, watching Iida’s arms make stiff and robot-like gestures. It was kind of cute how he moved.

“Hey,” Keiji smirked. “Wanna race me out the building?” He dared. Iida initially shook his head, but Keiji insisted. “Come on, it’ll be fun!”

“If you insist.” Iida eventually sighed. “Then I shall meet your challenge!” With that, he zoomed past Keiji and down the stairs. Keiji called out to him in mock offense.

“Hey, no fair!” He ran along the walls, using his webs to zip across and catch up. “I hadn’t said ‘Go!’ yet!” He smiled wildly as the two quickly ran past Bakugou. Keiji bumped into him as he zipped across the walls, something that the explosive boy seemed to take offense to.

“HEY! GET BACK HERE, YOU DAMN BUG!” He yelled, propelling himself with his explosions and inadvertently joining the race. Keiji turned briefly, and the expression he saw on his face was that of pure rage. He gulped nervously, and hurried to pass Iida.

“I know now’s not the best time, but I’m an arachnid…!” He called back as he ran, before turning to Iida and telling him to run faster. Iida was initially confused, before he too turned back.

“Goodness!” He cried out, increasing his pace. Despite the impending terror of being blown to pieces, Keiji had to admit one thing.

This was fun! Just what he needed. If only for a small moment, his problems were like the wind, breezing past him.

He should’ve known it wouldn’t last.

* * *

“GLAD TO SEE SUCH ENTHUSIASM!” Keiji had to cover one ear as All-Might called from the outside of the building entrance. In that moment, he despised Bakugou for damaging his one line of defence against this sensory assault. He glared at the boy in question, who thankfully didn’t notice.

_“Hey, look on the bright side!”_ Kumo encouraged. _“At least you broke his mask, too!”_ Keiji was not particularly comforted by his companion’s words. He highly doubted that Bakugou’s mask meant much to him. For him, it was likely just a cool part of an outfit. He doubted that he would care about its loss.

As for Keiji? Masks meant much more to him. They were his _escape._

He was never more comfortable than he was when he wore a mask. It didn’t have to be a literal one – his uniform at work served the same purpose – it just had to be something that drew attention away from himself, something that gave him a whole new appearance to other people. It was hard to say why exactly, but Keiji had difficulty accepting his regular face. Wearing a mask was liberating for him. It was a chance to be able to become someone else.

He wasn’t Keiji Parker, the socially awkward child, he was Keiji P., The star waiter – and sometimes cook – of The Spider’s Web, or the next Spider-Man, the amazing hero. Anything that wasn’t him.

_“H-hey…”_ Kumo stopped him from getting too caught up in his melancholy. _“You’re fine as just you, y’know?”_ He tried. Keiji sighed before slipping on a small smile.

“(Maybe...)” He whispered, hoping that saying the words would help. He felt at least a bit better at his companion’s attempts to comfort him, but he knew that, much like seemingly every problem he faced, this was bound to not be the end.

“YOUNG PARKER, WHY THE LONG FACE?” All-Might called attention to him, and Keiji couldn’t help but glare in response. Was he doing this on purpose? At this point, he had to be.

“For the last time,” Keiji’s voice came through gritted teeth. The venom in it surprised everyone, himself included. “My name. Is. Keiji!” He yelled. All-Might’s annoying habit of getting his name wrong was the last straw in a long line of frustrations he had had throughout the day. He had only just managed to calm himself for the battle, and this moment seemed to pull all of his problems back to him with the force of one of the hero’s famous SMASH attacks.

“AH, M-MY APOLOGIES-” Keiji cut him off, his rage not yet subsiding.

“You said that before already! Stop saying it if you don’t mean it!” He ranted. “I’m _sick_ of you constantly getting this wrong! Either say it right, or don’t fucking talk to me!” Iida tried to calm him down.

“Now Keiji, that is hardly appropriate behaviour-” Keiji was having none of it. He hardly cared at this point.

“I’m sick of you, I’m sick of this battle training, I’m sick of everything going wrong every time I try to even _think!”_ At this point, his anger wasn’t even directed at All-Might anymore. If anything, it was aimed at himself.

“N-NOW, YOUNG KEIJI, PLEASE CALM DOWN-.”

_“Whoa, I think you can stop now…”_

“Keiji! This is hardly heroic behaviour-!”

EVERYONE JUST SHUT THE HELL UP!” Keiji yelled, his voice sounding like an inhuman animal’s roar. He slammed his hands onto his ears for a moment, trying to catch a moment to breath. He took a deep breath, and managed to calm himself from ‘raging inferno’ all the way down to ‘burning campfire’. It was more focused now, and a whole lot colder.

“Whatever. Let’s just finish this damn thing.” He walked past All-Might and the others, heading for the observation room. 

“Y-YOUNG KEIJI, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?” All-Might called out as he walked. He stopped, and took a deep shuddering breath. His voice came out rough, and his eyes were pointed downwards. Small amounts of shining blood dripped near his hands.

“I’m just done.” He said, the words sounding bitter and resigned. “Just… so done.” He walked off briskly without another word, his eyes still facing the ground.

“W-WELL THEN,” All-Might found himself at a loss for words as he turned back to Bakugou and Iida. “SHALL WE GET GOING?!” He tried to sound enthusiastic, but it was clear that the mood was rather tarnished by the sudden outburst.

“O-of course.” Iida replied, sounding somewhat shaken. He tried to keep up his previous enthusiasm like All-Might, but the energy just wasn’t there. “Bakugou, we should-?!” Iida cut himself off when he realised Bakugou was no longer next to him.

“HEY, WHAT’S THE HOLD UP?!” Bakugou yelled. He had already begun to move back to the basement observation room himself. “LET’S GET THIS DONE ALREADY, DAMN IT!” He made a few popping explosions in his hands.

“RIGHT YOU ARE, YOUNG BAKUGOU!” All-Might answered after a short cough. “COME YOUNG IIDA, YOUR CLASSMATES AWAIT!” He said to Iida, his previous enthusiasm returning. The tension in the area felt lighter as Iida nodded back, more focused.

“Right you are, sir! Let us proceed!” He exclaimed, and he and All-Might began to rush in order to catch up. Bakugou sighed.

“About time.” He said as he continued to move back, now closely followed.

* * *

Keiji reached the entrance to the observation room, and glanced down at it. He wasn’t sure he was in the right state of mind for the judgement of his classmates, so he started to turn back and leave, heading back to the UA changing rooms. Kumo attempted to protest.

_“H-Hey!”_ He called out. _“Come on, we can’t just skip this.”_ Keiji strongly disagreed, but Kumo frowned at him. _“It’s part of the class. You can’t just ignore it. Besides, aren’t you curious about the analysis?”_ He actually laughed at the spider. It was a strangely mangled sound, and it seemed to make his throat sore.

“What analysis?” He quipped bitterly. “My ‘strategy’ was a series of panic attacks loosely resembling a battle plan, Baka-gou just charged off wildly and clearly had _no_ plan of action, and Iida…” He paused from listing off the events of the battle, before sighing. “Iida was pretty much the _only_ person there that seemed to have any idea what he was doing.” He said.

_“Really? Why’s that?”_ Kumo asked, and Keiji glared at him a little.

“Weren’t you there? You were _kind of_ making me aware of that the whole time.” He glared. When Kumo didn’t respond with anything more than a tilt of his head, he sighed. “Fine, have it your way.” He relented.

“Bakugou was fighting with too much aggression, and it’s pretty obvious that he wouldn’t cooperate with his partner.” He explained. “Iida, by contrast, waited until an opening emerged, then struck with precision, taking advantage of my… distraction.” He gave short glare towards Kumo, who laughed a little, nervously.

“And as for me, you know what happened.” He took a deep breath, then exhaled. “I was way too distracted, and I only barely managed to pull myself together at the end. By then, it was too late.” He raised an eyebrow towards his imaginary companion.

“Happy now?”

“QUITE SO, YOUNG KEIJI!”

“GAH!” All-Might’s voice caused Keiji to jump in surprise. He turned, finding Iida and Bakugou next to him at either side. Bakugou looked displeased, but it was somewhat muted compared to before. He kept his arms crossed and huffed. He couldn’t tell what Iida was thinking, but he seemed like he was pleased.

“What – I – You-?” He failed to form a complete sentence, frantically looking between All-Might and Kumo. He narrowed his eyes at the small spider, who seemed to smile with his eyes.

“(You planned this, didn’t you?)” He mouthed. Kumo nodded to the best of his arachnid abilities.

_“Hehe, yep!”_ He laughed. _“_ Now _we can go! Clever, huh?”_ Keiji paused for a moment, dumbfounded, before chuckling. Despite the spider being the cause of most of his problems these days, he found his companion to be surprisingly endearing at this point. Sure, they had problems – and he was still didn’t entirely trust the spider because of them – but it was nice to have someone who was on his side close by.

“(You’re OK.)” He mouthed back with a thin smile on his face. He then turned back over to All-Might, his expression falling as he did so. All-Might looked at him expectantly.

“Is there anything else to add, or is that all?” He almost dared All-Might to add to his analysis, to prove that he was in fact a more capable teacher than he had assumed. Unfortunately, his answer failed to prove much of anything.

“NOT AT ALL, YOUNG KEIJI! YOUR ANALYSIS SEEMS PERFECTLY ACCURATE TO ME.” He declared. Keiji frowned. He was honestly kind of hoping he had missed something, so he was left disappointed.

_“(I sense something of a theme emerging today…)”_ He thought, rather bleakly. All-Might drew attention to the two standing next to him.

“HOW ABOUT YOU, YOUNG HEROES? ANYTHING TO ADD?” Bakugou turned away in response, visibly frustrated. His words caught the Number One Hero by surprise.

“The bastard was holding back.” He growled, before turning to Keiji, whose face had gone pale. “Don’t think I didn’t notice. What the hell are you hiding, stupid arachnid?!” Keiji took a step back, glancing around and looking for exits. Street pathways. He could climb up the building, or swing away quickly.

_“I don’t think that’s going to be an option…”_ Kumo said, and Keiji glanced down to see small trickles of shining red blood coming from his web shooters. He mentally cursed. Acid webs were definitely a problem.

“W-why should I tell you?” He defended shakily. There was no easy way of getting out of his without things getting significantly worse, so hopefully he could simply stall him enough for someone else to step in and cover for him. Bakugou twitched.

“Are you fucking serious?” He popped a few explosions in his hands to punctuate his words. Again, Keiji found his eyes scanning the area for exits. Again, no easy way out. Damn it. Why did he have to bring it up? Why couldn’t he have just left it alone? Why couldn’t everything just leave him alone?!

“I-I’m not hiding anything-” He tried to protest. “I was going a-all out, I swear-” Bakugou seemed to disagree with his answer, interrupting him.

“BULLSHIT!” He declared angrily. “You may have been trying _real_ hard, but I know that wasn’t you at your best. What. Are. You. Hiding?!” He threatened. It was at this moment that Iida decided to speak up.

“Is there… Is there some reason you can’t tell us?” His words stung Keiji. He felt betrayed. “There clearly seems to be a problem, and we want to help-” Keiji interrupted

“STOP IT!” His words came through a sudden burst of tears. He turned away from them all. “Just…JUST SHUT UP AND LEAVE ME ALONE!” He cried. It wasn’t surprising to hear that he was sounding like a scared child. This whole scene was hurting him. Making him think about things he didn’t want to think about, that he never wanted to think about again, _God why was it all coming back, why was everything he wanted to stay behind him coming back-_

Keiji ran.

* * *

“What the fuck?!” Bakugou called out towards the fleeing boy. He didn’t even look like he knew where he was going. “Get back here, you-” He readied himself to charge off after him, but All-Might stopped him. Iida looked at the hero, confused.

“Sir, shouldn’t we do something?” He asked. Frankly, Keiji’s behaviour was at this point nothing short of alarming. He could not say he fully understood the situation, but he gathered that it was causing his friend a great deal of distress, and he only seemed to be getting worse. All-Might, however, shook his head.

“I THINK…” The hero paused for a moment. “IT MIGHT BE BEST IF WE LEAVE HIM BE. PAINFUL AS IT IS TO SEE A STUDENT IN SUCH A STATE, I AM AFRAID THERE IS LITTLE I COULD DO TO REMEDY THE SITUATION.” Iida stared at the hero incredulously.

“But sir…” He hesitated. “You’re the number one hero! I fail to see how this would be beyond your abilities!” He protested. Surely, if anyone could help his friend, it would be All-Might? What possible situation could leave the Symbol of Peace without a solution? All-Might turned to him. His expression, whilst still a smile, seemed oddly sombre as he spoke.

“A HERO CAN SOLVE MANY PROBLEMS, YOUNG IIDA.” He began to explain. “BUT THERE IS ONLY SO MUCH WE CAN DO, WHEN SOMEONE REFUSES OUR HELP. BESIDES, THIS IS NOT A PROBLEM THAT I CAN FIGHT.” He looked off into the cityscape, though Keiji had already seemed to vanish out of sight.

“WE CANNOT FIGHT OTHERS’ BATTLES FOR THEM.” He said. “THIS IS SOMETHING YOUNG KEIJI WILL HAVE TO DEAL WITH ON HIS OWN. WE MAY TRY TO HELP, OF COURSE,” He added. “BUT THERE IS ONLY SO MUCH WE CAN DO. FOR NOW, THIS IS OUT OF OUR HANDS.” Iida found himself somehow in awe of All-Might’s wisdom, but he was strangely unsatisfied. 

“I…If you say so, sir.” He said, sounding defeated. All-Might looked at him for a moment before speaking again.

“WORRY NOT, YOUNG IIDA!” He exclaimed. “JUST BECAUSE WE CANNOT HELP _NOW_ , IT DOES NOT MEAN THAT WE CANNOT BE OF USE! I’LL MAKE SURE THIS GETS SORTED OUT.” He let out a booming laugh, relieving the tension. Iida felt uncertain, but optimistic at his words.

“If you’re sure we cannot help currently,” He replied with some hesitation. “Then I suppose there is nothing left for us to do but press on!” He declared. “As much as it pains me to say it, we mustn’t hold up our classmates any longer!”

“Can we just fucking go in already?!” Bakugou agitatedly demanded. “I’m sick of standing around already!” Whilst Iida could perhaps understand the sentiment, the language he found to be particularly unpleasant.

“I SUPPOSE THAT IS ENOUGH DELAYS.” All-Might agreed. “COME NOW, WE HAVE A CLASS TO CONCLUDE!” He announced, taking the two students back to the basement to reconvene. Iida took one last glance behind him, before letting out a biter sigh. He wanted to do something, but there was nothing he could do.

Perhaps this was damage that only time could repair…

* * *

“Ngh…Gah!” The sound of pain echoed through the small alley that Keiji had found himself in. The dark surroundings obscured something horrid, something terrible that was just barely being contained within the boy’s small frame.

_“PLEASE STOP!”_ Kumo begged. The spider had been forced from his perch on Keiji’s shoulder, now struggling against an invisible force that pushed him along his arm. For a moment, he was tugged back, before struggling once more.

Keiji managed to stop himself from collapsing onto the ground by forcing himself onto the wall. Bile rose up in his throat, and he struggled to keep it down. For what seemed like forever, his heavy breathing was the only sound to be heard.

“(I’m…I’m fine…)” He tried to convince himself. “(I’ve got it under control…)” His shaking right hand seemed to strongly disagree, as did the spider now sitting on his shoulder.

_“Please tell me you’re not serious…”_ Keiji lacked the strength to even glare his response back. _“We have to do something! It’s only going to get worse until-”_ Keiji cut him off with a raised hand.

“(I know…)” It was hard for him to say it, but the spider was right. Things were starting to fall apart.

_“(Still…)”_ He thought. _“(I’m sure I can last, just a little longer. I just need a few more days.)”_ He tried to reassure himself. He _had_ to last. Just a little bit longer, and everything would be fine. He’d be able to stop scaring his friends, he’d be able to focus better, he would stop making everything worse for everyone…

He just had to last a little longer.

_“What if you can’t last?!”_ Kumo cried out, causing Keiji to wince a little. _“It’s already hard enough to contain! I thought the whole ‘vigilante’ thing would help you keep it together but…”_ Kumo didn’t finish, but he didn’t have to. Keiji let out a small, bitter sounding laugh.

“(I think that might’ve backfired a bit.)” He joked. “(Can’t say I don’t appreciate it, though.)” For a moment, he thought of ideas he had for a costume for his alternate persona. ‘The Weaver’ may not have been the best thing for him physically, but it was surprisingly calming for his mind. It was just like his uniform – an easy role to get lost in. A coping mechanism.

_“We need to tell someone.”_ Kumo urged. Keiji frowned. He knew the spider had a point, but he dreaded it all the same. _“We need a plan B if things get worse… If_ it _comes back-”_

“(Stop.)” Keiji gritted out. He let out a sigh. “(You know I can’t say anything. Besides, who would we get to agree?)” He asked. There was only one thing that could be done if things continued to worsen, and there was no way he could get anyone he knew to cooperate if that happened.

_“Aizawa, maybe?”_ Keiji shook his head. His uncle was one of the best people he knew, but he could tell how he would respond. He’d be taken out of UA before he even finished explaining, and he had no idea for how long. After all, at this rate, the ‘logical’ thing to do would probably be to isolate him from as many people as possible.

But if it happened, and there were no heroes around like there were at UA?

Keiji almost threw up at the thought of what could happen.

“(Not him.)” Keiji said.

_“Ok then, maybe… maybe All-Might?”_ Keiji raised an eyebrow, but shook his head yet again. There was _no_ way that he was saying anything to All-Might. Besides, he’d surely just tell Aizawa and then they’d be back at square one.

“(Even if you _could_ tolerate that idea for even a full two minutes,)” Kumo turned away from him as he spoke. “(That’s a definite no. If we’re going to tell someone, it has to be someone we can trust, but not someone who would take us out of UA.)” He thought for a moment, and at least one name seemed to fit the bill.

“(What about Iida?)” He offered. Kumo looked sceptical, but Keiji tried to explain himself. “(We’ve already gathered that he works well under pressure, and he already wants to know.)” He explained. The more he thought about it, the more ideal it seemed.

_“I’m not so sure…”_ Kumo disagreed. _“He might report to the teachers. Still, a student isn’t a bad idea.”_ Keiji frowned, but conceded the point. Still, he didn’t have many other options.

_“Maybe Jirou? You seemed to get on well with her.”_ Kumo offered. Keiji found his face going a little red at the comment, but considered the idea.

“(I… I’m not exactly comfortable with that…)” He admitted. “(I mean, I barely know her.)” Admittedly, the same point could probably be made about Iida. Still, Jirou was the only person who had let him put his issues aside. He liked that, and felt it was wrong to try and force them on her after that. Forcing it on anyone was already an unpleasant option, but seemingly necessary.

_“It’s up to you, I suppose. I’d say Iida seems like our best shot.”_ Kumo reluctantly agreed. _“Man, our options aren’t good, are they?”_ He added, and Keiji laughed a little. He was starting to stand up properly now, some of his strength returning to him. He began to make his way out of the model city.

“(Yeah. But we have to try something.)” He said, making his decision. He would tell Iida about everything. That was hard enough, but the next part would be far worse.

He would have to ask Iida to kill him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As noted above, this is where things get kind of intense. It'll ease up a bit in the following arc, but for now our hero is nearing his lowest point. Just a few more chapters before the big moment. 
> 
> I find that making a story is really more of making up specific moments and then filling in the blanks on how to get there. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. I like to think this story fits the former.


	11. Rising Winds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keiji has to brace himself for the point of no return. Kumo's insistent on finding another way, but the clock is ticking. And amongst it all, Keiji finds himself with a new secret to keep.

_“Whoa, that’s a bit extreme, isn’t it!?”_ Kumo was met with silence as his physical companion, Keiji Parker realised the extent of what he had to do.

“Don’t act so surprised.” He answered after a pause. He looked down at the ground, refusing to meet the spider’s eight eyes. “It’s always been the plan for when…” He hesitated, some confusion in his eyes that mixed together with some kind of sorrowing. He looked as though he was mourning himself already, like his body was buried beneath where he stood. 

“When I lost control again.” He finished. Where he capable of such, Kumo would be giving quite the disapproving frown in response. As it was, his best attempt was still passable.

_“Look, I know things are bad, but it’s not hopeless!”_ Kumo tried, but Keiji only responded with a bitter glare. He pressed on regardless. _“Even if…if you change-”_ Keiji cut him off.

“If I change, everyone will die!” He cried, tears across his face. “No matter where it happens, I’m a ticking time bomb right now! What if it happens in class? What if I can’t stop it next time?!” Kumo couldn’t tell whether he was trying to argue with him, or plead with himself in search of the answer to his questions. He collapsed onto the ground again, sobbing into his hands.

“I’m scared...” His voice came out as barely a whisper.

_“I know, but this isn’t right.”_ Kumo answered, speaking in a soft yet firm tone. Their situation was already rough, and whilst he didn’t want to add any further fuel to the fire of their tense relationship, he couldn’t agree to this plan – if it could be called that.

_“Think of what you’d be putting on him – on anyone with this.”_

“Think of what I’m putting on them just by being here.”

_“Even if it comes to that, there’s got to be someone else!”_

“I wish.” Keiji chuckled, finally standing. He had a small smile. An empty smile. But it was at least some form of smile, so that was progress. “There’s no one else we could even _tell_ about all this, let alone ask for them to…” He couldn’t quite seem to finish.

_“It might not come to that!”_ Finally, Kumo seemed to get through to him, and his smile showed just a flicker of warmth.

“I hope not. I don’t think _I’m_ ready for it, let alone anyone else.” He let out a sigh. “But we still need to be prepared for the worst-case scenario. It’s only logical.” Kumo ‘frowned’ yet again.

_“I’m starting to think you shouldn’t listen to your Uncle so much…”_ Keiji raised an eyebrow. _“Besides, this isn’t exactly the best plan.”_

“If you feel that way, I’m open to any better ideas.” Keiji said. As much as Kumo wanted to protest, he found no words. 

“Yeah.” Keiji said. “That’s what I thought.”

* * *

Once he felt that he could at least appear calm to an outside glance, Keiji found his way to the changing room. He held his torn mask in his right hand.

“I’ll have to get it fixed…” He muttered to himself as he entered. It seemed a few students had already finished changing and went to leave, as the room was rather sparse. Deku was also absent, most likely at the nurse’s office. He _had_ injured himself rather severely after all. Keiji made a mental note to check on him before he left.

“You’re back. What happened?” He looked over to see Pokémon-Hair speaking to him. “You missed the end of class.”

He scrambled his brain to find an excuse for his absence. After all, he couldn’t just tell a complete stranger that he had just experienced a massive panic attack and begun to make plans for his own death.

_“Actually, you could. Millions of people do that sort of thing. It’s called therapy.”_ Kumo remarked. Keiji resisted the urge to frown and swat at his shoulder.

“I just had to use the bathroom.” He lied. “Lunch doesn’t sit so well after you’ve been flung through concrete.” He added, chuckling a little. Pokémon-Hair seemed to accept this answer, shrugging before returning to changing.

“What’s your name, by the way?” He asked. “I should probably get everyone else’s, after I was so insistent on mine.”

“Oh, yeah. It’s Kaminari.” Pokémon-Hair- or rather, Kaminari – smiled and thrust his hand out for a handshake. After a brief moment of hesitation, Keiji shook it slowly.

“Keiji Parker. But you probably already knew that.” He introduced himself, a little awkwardly. “Also, you should probably put some pants on.” He added, noticing that he hadn’t finished changing.

“Huh?” Kaminari took a second to notice that, in fact, his trousers were conspicuously absent. “OH CRAP!”

“Well, now that I’ve made it awkward, I’ll take my-” Keiji went to leave and get changed himself before finding his hand was stuck. He rolled his eyes.

“(Shit, not this again.)” He muttered. It wasn’t the first time this had happened. His Quirk tended to act up when he was stressed, and given that stressed out pretty much summed up the entire day, it was hardly unexpected. At least this was one of the least dangerous outcomes.

“Uh, can you let go of my hand now?”

“Nope.”

“Wait, what?”

“Just a sec. This might hurt. A lot, actually.”

“WAIT, WHAT?!”

Keiji took hold of his right arm in his left, dug his feet into the ground and pulled with all his might.

“OW! WHAT THE HELL?!” Kaminari protested.

“Sorry about this. Stupid sticky hands…” Keiji said through gritted teeth as he continued, and eventually he managed to release his hand, causing both boys to collapse onto the ground.

“Heh. Sorry about that. Happens way too much.” Keiji said. After a moment’s pause, he added, “You, uh, might want to wash that hand, by the way.” Kaminari looked down at his hand, his eyes now filled with fear. Keiji scratched the back of his head nervously.

“So _that’s_ what you were doing in the bathroom.” Keiji looked down to see a pile of grapes attached to a small boy, who was yet again making inappropriate comments.

“Ew, no! It’s just my Quirk acting up.” He said, before turning back to Kaminari. “It’s just a few tiny, spider hairs at worst. I’m not diseased enough for anything contagious.” Keiji tried to reassure the poor boy, who thankfully let out a sigh of relief.

“What do you mean ‘enough’?” Iida, who had been busily removing his armour, looked over at Keiji, asking an uncomfortable question.

“Later.” He brushed it off, finally going over to change out of his costume.

_“Roughly how much later? Were you thinking maybe, I don’t know, a week?”_ Keiji flinched at his companion’s words. He may or may not have been planning to further delay the topic as much as he could. Despite his previous resolve to explain the situation, he found it far easier said than done when seeing someone else’s face.

For some time, the room was quiet, everyone focusing on changing so that they could go home. No one seemed to have much desire to stay around further after All-Might had left.

_“He seemed to be in quite a rush, didn’t he?”_ Kumo said, seeming suspicious. Keiji sighed.

“(I’m sure he was just worried about Deku.)” He quietly replied. Were Kumo to possess eyebrows, one would have been raised in a suspect and curious fashion. Unfortunately, eight separate eyebrows for each eye would be horribly inconvenient for a spider to have to deal with, so Keiji’s imaginary companion was left more limited in his expressiveness. 

_“I suppose. But he seemed a bit_ too _worried in that case.”_ Keiji hesitated. He did seem to sprint off to the Nurse’s office, which was rather strange considering that even with Recovery Girl’s Quirk; Deku likely wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon. He seemed far too injured for that.

_“Exactly! So, why the rush? I bet he’s hiding something.”_ Keiji nodded along thoughtfully, now intrigued. However, he quickly shook his head a moment later.

“(I think we’re the _last_ people who should go digging around other people’s secrets.)” He half-joked. The hypocrisy of investigating a seemingly rather private circumstance whilst refusing to even properly explain his own situation would be so strong that it would make him sick.

_“I know. But aren’t you curious?”_ Kumo pleaded, and Keiji smirked. The spider seemed so childish at times. He supposed that made sense, given that it first appeared in his childhood. In fact, now that he thought about it, he didn’t know what age the spider actually was. Did it even age? It was a hallucination, or so it seemed. Yet there were some strange inconsistencies, like its ability to observe what Keiji couldn’t see, its separate perception of events and most peculiarly, its memory.

Though he was yet to interrogate the spider fully, it had certainly implied that it had a greater degree of knowledge regarding certain events that Keiji couldn’t – or perhaps didn’t want to remember. He had no idea how it could possibly possess such knowledge, but then again, he could count on one hand all of the things he _did_ understand about his imaginary companion. 

Yet another thing to add to his ever-growing list of concerns and problems that he called ‘life’. 

_“Hey, you know we still need to take the costume off, right?”_ His speculations were interrupted by the very topic of his thoughts, and Keiji realised that the spider was correct. He still had to get properly changed out of his costume. And, considering the damage from the battle, he would probably need to get it repaired somehow too.

_“Should you try asking Aizawa about it?”_ Kumo suggested. Keiji shook his head at the idea. There was _no_ way that he would be able to face his uncle any time soon. Things were going downhill for him fast, and he was sure it wouldn’t take too long for it to be noticed. If that happened, he would be pulled out of UA faster than you could say “It’s only logical.” Whilst that was most likely the safest thing to do, Keiji disliked the idea…

“(I don’t want this to end yet…)” H said, more to himself than his companion. He realised that he was probably being selfish, since he was currently a major potential hazard for those around him, but he still couldn’t bring himself to essentially ruin his life’s dream as a result.

Selfishly, he wanted to at least die _trying_. 

_“You’re really inconsistent, you know that?”_ Kumo said, seemingly a little bitter. Keiji glanced over as he changed. _“You’re so scared of hurting the people around you that you’re considering a planned suicide, yet you’re still desperate to be around them and pretend everything’s fine. I just don’t get it.”_ Keiji tried to think of the right words to convey his feelings, but he struggled. He was rarely good with words out of character, and he was hardly any better at expressing his feelings to other people. He was convinced that he would always end up hurting someone by telling them any sort of truth about himself.

So, he tried not to be _himself_.

Someone who wouldn’t be a risk to everyone around them, someone who could actually _improve_ a situation by being present. As far as he saw it, Keiji Parker wasn’t that. Peter Parker, maybe, but not Keiji. Ever since that fateful day, he just… couldn’t see himself like that.

It was strange, but he couldn’t remember the exact reason for the change. Like most things from that time, it was very blurry.

“I…” He eventually tried to speak, but still found it difficult.

“I just don’t want to be alone again…” He settled on. He felt some kind of guilt for it, but being with other people helped him. It made him feel like things were okay, a feeling he hadn’t really had much of after his father’s death. Back then, it was okay for him to be himself. Nowadays, it wasn’t exactly easy in the same way, but it was easier to _look_ like it was. To pretend that he was fine. That Keiji Parker was fine. It helped him to forget his problems, if only for a little while.

“Keiji?” He almost leapt right out of his skin at the sound of Iida’s voice from behind him, interrupting his less than pleasant thoughts.

“O-oh, Iida!” He said hurriedly, turning around. He had finished changing, though he had no idea how long he had stood there afterwards, lost in thought. “Time to go, I guess?” Iida regarded him with a raised eyebrow.

“I know you dislike this question,” A part of Keiji was glad to see where this sentence was going, whilst the other part was panicking and checking for escape routes again. “But, are you sure you are okay?” He began to answer, and then stopped himself. He couldn’t just say ‘yes’ every time when it wasn’t true.

If he was committed to his plan, he had to at least take a step forward.

“No.” He said, after a sigh. “No, I am sure that I’m _not_ okay.” Iida went to speak again, but Keiji held his hand up to stop him. “And there’s a whole bunch of reasons as to why, and it’s complicated and confusing and scary, and even _I_ don’t really understand it and-” He stopped himself from continuing to ramble for a moment, taking another deep breath.

“I _want_ to talk about it, but… It’s hard. I don’t think I can say anything about it here, so…” He hesitated, fidgeting with his hands for a moment. Of all the things he had to say, this part really _shouldn’t_ have been the most difficult, but it was.

“C-can I maybe get your phone number?!” He said, a little panicked. Iida stared at him for a moment.

“Pardon?”

“W-well, I was hoping I could maybe call or text you, invite you over to the restaurant where I work, and I could… explain stuff.” He said, suddenly embarrassed. “I-its fine if not, but-” He began to backpedal before noticing Iida had taken out a small piece of paper and began writing on it. After a moment, he handed it to Keiji.

“There you are. Feel free to call me at any time.” Iida smiled, and Keiji looked like he was about to cry. A strange response from such a small interaction, but it meant a lot to him.

_“Well, congrats. You have a boy’s number.”_ Kumo said, seemingly joking. _“Ready for a dinner date?”_

“Well, IgottagoandmaybecheckonDekusothanksbye!” Keiji hastily panicked, grabbing the piece of paper and rushing to the door, trying to stop his face from going any redder in the process.

“Wait!” Keiji had unfortunately run off in a panic again before he could hear Iida call out to him. 

“He looked like he had caught a fever.” Iida said, now to himself. “I hope he’s not getting worse.”

* * *

_“Oh, come on,”_ Kumo said, still giggling about their quick-witted joke. _“You have to admit, that was funny!”_ Keiji simply glared at the spider. Evidently, he was unamused.

“(Glad you’re having fun,)” Keiji growled. “(But if you haven’t forgotten, we might have to _die_ soon, so I’d appreciate you not screwing up potentially my last days on Earth.)” He sighed bitterly at the reminder. Kumo rolled their eyes, a strange feat for a spider.

_“Don’t talk like that. I’ll find another way.”_ Keiji scoffed at the response.

“(Yeah, because I’m sure you have a better plan rattling in that non-existent skull of yours.)”

_“Well_ your _plan is awful, so one of us needs to come up with something, and you’re too… resigned!”_ Kumo threw up two tiny spider arms in frustration. Keiji paused for a

“(Yeah.)” Keiji said, still bitter yet also with a hint of sadness. His eyes felt wet. “(I kinda have to be…)” He took a deep breath to compose himself. It would be a bad idea to risk having another breakdown. He had probably already guaranteed a talk with his uncle about the battle training. Hopefully he could postpone that until later. 

He didn’t feel like talking about his problems.

_“When do you ever?”_ Keiji held back a flinch from the spider’s words.

“(How about we just… _don’t_ right now, Ok?)” He said dismissively. It was an easy thing to say. Kumo seemed dissatisfied, but remained silent, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

_“Fine. Let’s just check on Deku. But we’ll come back to this!”_ The spider’s attempts to speak in a disapproving tone were rather more amusing than anything, and Keiji let out a small chuckle.

“(Don’t worry. I’m not dropping this completely.)” He reassured. “(It’s just hard to talk about. Besides, we’ve got other plans for today, remember?)”

_“You mean the vigilante costume?”_ Keiji nodded. _“I’m not so sure that’s a good idea anymore.”_

“(Well, it was _your_ idea in the first place, so I’m holding you to it.)” Keiji smirked at the spider, which looked uncertain. “(Besides, we should be okay as long as we’re not anywhere too busy. A late night is actually pretty safe for us. Everyone’ll be sealed away in buildings if anything happens.)” 

_“I guess that makes sense. Still seems risky though.”_ Kumo remained at least a little unconvinced.

Quite the ironic turn of events, Keiji thought. He shrugged.

“With us, what isn’t?” He was only half-joking. Kumo let out a small giggle in response, and Keiji smiled before opening the door to the nurse’s office.

* * *

Nausea. That was the first thing Keiji felt as he stepped into the white room. It was immediate, and felt overwhelming. He tried not to show it on his face.

Hospitals made him uncomfortable. This room was similar enough to trigger the same response. Albeit to a lesser degree. If it were an actual hospital, he would’ve likely been gagging by now.

Fortunately, this was more bearable. He just carried on smiling.

“Hey, Recovery Girl?” Keiji glanced over to find a small old woman standing next to a bed. She carried a comically large syringe as a walking stick and wore a visor over her face. He wasn’t sure if it helped her eyesight or was just aesthetic. Based on the overly large lab coat she wore; he suspected the latter.

“Ah, Keiji! I was wondering when you would turn up here.” Keiji shuffled awkwardly at her greeting. This was not the first time the two had met, though their previous interactions were always somewhat tainted by the situation. The exact details were blurry, but needless to say that they had only really interacted in bad times.

“Yeah, it’s… nice to see you too.” He tried not to sound too uncomfortable, but Recovery Girl simply frowned at him.

“No need to be nervous, boy. I won’t bite.” She said. “My dentures aren’t that tough!” Keiji chuckled politely, the tension in the air dropping. He relaxed his body a bit, and tried to ignore the slight shake in his hand.

“So, how’s Deku- er, Midoriya doing?” He asked, turning his attention to the bed by Recovery Girl. Deku still appeared to be in costume, though there was now a cast over one of his arms, the other being connected to an IV drip. Keiji gulped at the sight. 

Those things were _never_ a good sign.

Recovery Girl looked over to him.

“He should be stable now, he’s just asleep.” She said. “He’ll regain his energy and wake up any minute now though.” Keiji sighed in relief and stepped closer to the bed.

“That’s a relief.” He said. “It was pretty scary when he got his arm so damaged.” Recovery Girl nodded along with his words.

“Quirks can be rather destructive. Especially if the body is unprepared.” She glanced over at Keiji as she spoke, who flinched for a moment. He looked carefully at Deku’s arm, trying to analyse the damage. 

“True, but that much damage? It’s almost as if his Quirk is new to his body.” He thought aloud. Most people learned how to control their Quirks from a young age. Apparently four was the norm for it to first manifest, though Keiji only barely fit that pattern, the first appearance of his powers being mere minutes before his fifth birthday. Surprisingly, he didn’t actually know anyone with more standard rules applying to their Quirks besides his current classmates. Then again, he tended to avoid most other people. He rarely ever got close enough to someone to even ask any questions regarding their Quirks, so the bulk of his knowledge came from online sources.

“It’s either that or…” He paused, glancing up to Recovery Girl, who shook her head slightly. He frowned.

“I can already tell what you’re thinking, and no. He doesn’t have the same condition you do.” Keiji hung his head slightly in disappointment. 

“However,” she added, bringing his attention back. “The situation is at least somewhat comparable. In fact, you make an excellent reference point to compare for dealing with his circumstances.” Keiji’s eyes widened in shock.

“R-really? How so?” Recovery Girl simply chuckled in response.

“I’m afraid the exact details are a bit too technical for you, dear.” Keiji grew what he thought was a scowl, but what actually resembled more closely a childish pout.

“I’m sure I could understand. I’m not a kid anymore, you know!” He protested. She smiled at him.

“It’s only the young who actively _wish_ to be older, dear. Youth is never fully appreciated until it’s lost.” Her words stopped Keiji for a moment. He looked down at his hands thoughtfully.

_“(Only the young?)”_ He thought to himself. _“(That doesn’t sound quite right…)”_

_“Only the young and the ill?”_ Keiji frowned and glanced at his shoulder, where Kumo regarded him with a more curious expression than he was expecting. He might have responded had his attention not been drawn to a groan coming from the bed he stood beside.

“Deku!” Keiji turned to his friend whose eyes had just opened. “How are you feeling? Are you okay? Are-” his questions were quickly interrupted by a sudden bonk to his head.

“Ow!”

“Calm down, dear!” Recovery Girl complained. “He’s only just up.” Keiji nodded and took a step back, massaging the back of his head with one hand.

“Sorry about that.” He apologised. “This place just makes me nervous.” Deku seemed to take a moment to get his bearings before responding.

“I-I think I’m okay…?” He said, looking around the room. “Although I can’t feel my-” His words stopped once he noticed his arm in the cast.

“Oh.” Was all that he said. Keiji could sympathise. Words always came uneasily after seeing one’s injuries. Especially after a battle, where both the mind and the body were too busy handling the adrenaline to feel the full extent of it.

“Yeah, you really did a number on yourself.” Keiji said. “On the bright side though, you won the battle! Congrats!” He smiled, lightening the mood. Deku looked uncertainly at his arm.

“This doesn’t look like much of a victory.” He said.

“It’s rare that victories ever look right.” Keiji replied without thinking. Deku looked at him strangely, but before he could comment, Recovery Girl brought herself to the centre of attention once more, clearing her throat.

“Regardless, it’s not a strategy you should try again, young man.” She warned. “It’s your third trip to see me in fewer days. That isn’t something you should try to keep up.” Keiji nodded along whilst Deku listened intently. He seemed to only grow more uncertain at her words.

“I-I understand.” He said to her, and then more quietly to himself, he added “I’m just not sure what else I could’ve done…”

_“(His control could use some work.)”_ Keiji thought. He kept quiet, as Deku seemed as though he would prefer not to talk about his Quirk very openly, and he could respect that. It wasn’t uncommon for people to be insecure regarding their Quirks, and it seemed this was more so the case in Japan than America, at least as far as Keiji could tell. Based on Deku’s problems relating to his Quirk, and their apparent similarities with his own situation, he could understand the desire for privacy regarding such matters.

_“I’m still curious about it.”_ Kumo commented. _“I mean, that power is remarkable, but he doesn’t seem to have any control over the output at all! It’s almost like it’s…”_ Keiji raised an eyebrow as the spider trailed off, seemingly lost in thought.

“Keiji, why are you here?” His attention was returned to the present moment by Deku. He couldn’t say for obvious reasons, but he was rather glad. That was starting to get unnerving.

“Well, mostly just to check on you,” He said, before suddenly remembering something. “ _Buuut_ , I also kinda shot acid out of my web shooters today, so I could do with getting that checked.” He turned to Recovery Girl, who looked at him shocked for a moment before sighing angrily.

“Unbelievable. You didn’t open with that?!” She berated, before beckoning him to show his wrists. He did so, rolling up his sleeves. There were small and shiny red stains on them, but the bleeding itself seemed to have faded. She examined his web shooters closely.

“Well, they’ve already stopped bleeding, and I can’t see any external damage.” She said. Keiji let out a sigh of relief. “How do they feel?”

“A little itchy, but fine now.” He explained. “Earlier, it felt a lot worse. I guess it’s only painful when it’s active…” He trailed off into muttering about the potential of his new ability.

_“New?”_ Kumo seemed to question. _“I’m starting to worry for your memory…”_ Keiji tried his best to not look as though he was completely caught off-guard.

“Anyway,” He turned back to Deku. “Can you walk okay?” He asked, already moving to support him in the event that he said no. Thankfully, Deku nodded his head. 

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” He said, managing to get up onto his feet.

“Alright then. Wanna head to the classroom together? I left my bag there, and I can tell you all about how the battles went.” Deku smiled at his words.

“Sure.”

* * *

Izuku found himself wishing quite badly that he had brought his notebook with him as Parker – Or Keiji, as he admittedly preferred, though he was still uncertain about using his classmate’s first name – recounted the events of the battles that he had missed. He made a note of any of the names mentioned, though Keiji apparently had difficulty remembering a lot of them, typically only remembering the MVP of each match off the top of his head.

When he got to describing his own battle, however, he seemed much more reluctant to talk about it, especially his own actions. He almost had to force the details out of him, as harsh as it seemed. There was something he seemed eager to hide about the battle. Then again, based on how he apparently fought Kacchan and Iida, he wasn’t too surprised. It seemed apparent that he had lost the match.

Still, he seemed to be hiding something else. Something big. He kept glancing at his right shoulder as they were talking. Sometimes he smirked at it, other times it was a frown, and once he even had to stop himself from suddenly laughing. It was clear he was having some kind of one-sided conversation, but there wasn’t anyone or anything he could have been speaking to.

Overall, Keiji struck him as quite the secretive person, which he definitely wasn’t expecting. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing – He also had his own secrets, thanks to All-Might and One for All – but it was certainly unusual. He couldn’t help but wonder what he was hiding. 

“So, that’s how I lost.” Keiji concluded his recounting of the battle. “At least it wasn’t to _Baka_ -gou.” Izuku couldn’t help but let out a shocked laugh at his particular choice of nickname for his old childhood friend. It still didn’t exactly please him to hear, however.

“H-he really isn’t _that_ bad…” He half-heartedly defended. Admittedly, Bakugou certainly had his flaws, but Izuku still couldn’t bring himself to feel any particular dislike for him. If anything, he still found himself admiring his old friend. Not much had changed since they were young as far as he could see. Keiji frowned at him before giving a reluctant shrug.

“If you say so.” He said. “I mean, you seem pretty smart. I guess you’re a good judge of character.” He seemed very reluctant to say much that would show Bakugou any sort of respect, even incidentally. Yet again, Izuku found himself wondering about the exact particulars of their battle. Or the class in general, to be honest. He still wished he had been able to stay for the rest.

Upon reaching the classroom, he found himself suddenly greeted by some of his classmates, who had all kindly stayed behind to wait for him. However, there was a notable absence from the crowd. 

“A-actually, I think I should go, so…” He trailed off, suddenly turning and leaving.

He had to see Kacchan.

* * *

“Hey, Deku! Wait a sec!” Keiji tried to call out, but Deku seemed to not hear him as he left. Keiji found himself a little unsure of what to do about the situation. However, Uraraka, who happened to be next to him, pointed out something important.

“He left his bag.” She said, and Keiji turned to find a yellow backpack near his own bag. He quickly jumped over to it, in a perhaps unnecessary fashion, before hastily retrieving it.

“Keiji that is another student’s property! You shouldn’t touch it!” Iida protested. Keiji met his eyes for just a moment, and the earlier conversation they had appeared in his head. His cheeks felt just a little red.

“I’m just going to return it to Deku. Don’t want him to lose it.” He said. Iida looked at him for a moment, before nodding his head.

“Very well. Do make sure it reaches him.” Iida encouraged. Keiji smirked.

“Don’t worry.” He shot a bolt of webbing out to the wall outside the classroom.

“I work fast.”

* * *

“I got my Quirk from someone else.” Keiji stopped moving the moment he found Deku. He was standing just at the entrance to the UA building, with Bakugou only a few steps ahead of him. Keiji himself had taken to hiding on the small patch of roof just behind the two.

_“’Someone else?’ You heard that, right?”_ Kumo had taken a keen interest in the conversation occurring just beyond them. _“He’s talking about a Quirk transfer…”_ Keiji shook his head frantically. It couldn’t be true. It just couldn’t be.

“(That’s not a real thing…)” He wasn’t sure whether he was referring to his spider companion or himself as he whispered. “(I-it’s just… made-up nonsense. Someone must’ve tricked him or-)” Kumo cut him off.

_“LISTEN!”_ They insisted. _“Does it sound like he’s making this up?! Either he’s as crazy as you are, or this is for real!”_ Keiji still couldn’t quite believe it, but Kumo definitely had a point. It certainly didn’t _sound_ like Deku was lying. From the sound of his voice, he could only conclude that he was speaking from his heart. He was definitely convinced of the truth of what he was saying.

Whether that actually made it true or not, he couldn’t say. Only that it was believable. And, for some reason… familiar?

_“You noticed that too?”_ Kumo asked. _“I’ve heard this before. I’m sure of it. I don’t know where, but this idea came up before. Who said it…?”_ Keiji was thoroughly disturbed by his companion’s sudden revelations.

“(Well, _I_ don’t remember anything about this,)” He said, a mix of shock and anger weaving their way into his words carefully. “(So, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Is this some kind of repressed memory?)” Certainly, it would be the most plausible out of the explanations he could come up with off the top of his head. Kumo seemed frustrated by the question.

_“I DON’T KNOW!”_ They yelled. _“Listen Keiji, I wasn’t lying when I told you that I didn’t know why I was here. What I_ do _know is that ever since I came back, things have been adding up in weird places. I remember stuff you don’t; I see what you can’t… Something’s changed, and I can feel what on the tip of my metaphorical tongue. It’s just a little out of reach.”_ Keiji had no idea how to process what he had just heard, so he remained silent.

It seemed that everything he learned was just getting tangled up inside his head. The only consistent element seemed to be how it was stressing him out.

“BY THE WAY,” His attention was taken away from his head and into the present by the unmistakably loud sound of All-Might’s voice. “WHAT EXACTLY DID YOU TELL YOUNG BAKUGOU?” There was a strong presence in his voice.

It sounded threatening.

“(I really don’t like this.)” Keiji said to himself. He began to lower himself slowly by a strand of web, careful to hide himself behind one of the stone pillars by the door. “(Should I-?)”

_“I know what you’re going to say and NO.”_ Kumo interrupted. _“It’s too risky. All-Might seems pretty serious about this. If he sees us, we’re either dead or…”_ The spider trailed off, but Keiji could tell what he was going to say. Still, surely, they were exaggerating. 

He slowly raised his right arm-

_“I SAID NO!”_

And Kumo thrust it down. 

* * *

“Argh!” Izuku turned around after hearing a sudden cry of pain from a familiar voice. It wasn’t particularly well timed for him. All-Might’s warning regarding the nature of his new Quirk already had him rather unsettled. Not that it was unimportant. It was vital that no one figured out the true nature of One For All. It would attract too much attention; possibly even shatter the idea of the Symbol of Peace.

He dared not imagine what a world like that would be. 

Keiji appeared to be standing by the gate, leaning on a pillar. He was breathing rather heavily, as though he had just expended far too much energy far too quickly. Izuku quickly noticed that he had his bag in one hand, whilst the other was being pressed up against the pillar. He was looking at it with an odd mix of distress and betrayal.

“K-Keiji?” His eyes widened in shock for just a moment.

“Deku!” He said. “You left your bag! Just…wanted to return this.” He tossed over the bag lightly, and Izuku fumbled trying to grab it with his still functional arm. Keiji seemed to notice the mistake.

“Oh, sorry!” He said. “For a moment, I kinda forgot about your arm...” Izuku raised an eyebrow, but accepted the apology. It was at that moment that a sudden and alarming thought entered his mind.

“So…” He began cautiously. “You didn’t happen to hear anything, did you?” Keiji froze for a moment and Izuku’s heart sank.

“Nope!” Keiji said all too loudly. “I heard absolutely nothing about your Quirk-” He paused for a second. “Or! Whatever you were talking about that I _definitely_ didn’t hear. So, there’s no reason for All-Might to come back and kill me…” He let out a chuckle, then looked around with a panicked expression. He seemed to be genuinely scared of All-Might.

After a moment, Keiji let out a sigh and seemed to relax.

“I’m a terrible liar…” He groaned. Again, he looked around frantically. All-Might failed to appear, no doubt because he was practically out of time for his Muscle Form. Izuku was simultaneously relieved and frightened by the implications of his words.

“How much did you hear?” He tried to keep his voice level, fixing Keiji with a stern expression. He didn’t seem impressed by the result, and let out a sigh of apparent frustration.

“Here?” Keiji said, glancing around in an oddly patient manner. “I only heard what you wanted me to hear.” Izuku tilted his head, suddenly confused.

“But-” Keiji interrupted his response quickly, and he noticed that he had taken a few steps closer. He tensed a little, unsure of how to react. 

“However, hypothetically,” Keiji winked at Izuku as he spoke. “If I _were_ to hear that your Quirk was the result of a transfer with an unknown individual, I would only discuss such a thing if you were comfortable, and even then, in some sort of private space.” Izuku let out a sigh of relief as Keiji smiled.

“T-that’s a relief.” He said quietly. “I-if such a thing _was_ the case, you understand no one could know, right?” Keiji grinned back.

“Of course!” He seemed visibly more relaxed. “Believe me, if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s _not_ telling people about stuff. Something of a specialty of mine.” Izuku laughed nervously at what was clearly intended as a joke, though the statement seemed off in some way.

“What do you mean?” He couldn’t help but ask. Keiji looked at him curiously and paused for a moment. He eventually let out a small, bitter sounding sigh.

“It’s kind of a long story.” He said reluctantly. “Suffice to say, I’ve had some… _issues_ with my Quirk in the past, and it’s taught me the importance of silence.” A part of Izuku wanted to reach for his notebook and write down the information, but that would hardly be appropriate. Still, it left him with more questions than answers.

“Issues?” He asked. “Like that Acidic webbing?” He was shocked at Keiji’s response, a barked out laugh that sounded almost delirious.

“Yeah.” He seemed disturbingly amused. “Let’s leave it at that.” He shook his head quickly after a moment’s pause.

“Sorry, don’t know what came over me.” He apologised. Izuku nodded, still concerned but wanting to avoid pressing the issue. “Where was I?”

“We were talking about…” Izuku found it difficult to bring the conversation back on track. “You know, what you heard?” Keiji snapped his fingers at the reminder.

“Right, that!” He said, before quieting his voice. “How about we talk about it as we get to the station?” He looked around a little frantically.

“After all, I’d kinda like to avoid the possibility of All Might punching me into tiny pieces.” He half-joked. They both found themselves laughing at the remark. It was still a little awkward, but it managed to ease the tension.

“Understandable. Ready to go then?” Izuku asked, smiling. Keiji nodded back.

“Yeah.” He said. “It’s been a long day.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve actually been sitting on this chapter for quite a while, but I haven’t released it mainly because, despite being proud of it, I felt it was a lot of set up that didn’t really pay off on the chapter itself. So I wanted to wait until Chapter 12 was finished before releasing this. 
> 
> Then, well… most of 2020 happened. And I kinda lost a lot of motivation to work on this. And work generally, something I’m sure a lot of people can relate to. 
> 
> I still intend to see this story through to the end, or at least as far as I can. I’ve got far too many ideas for this story to ever abandon it. So, both to help motivate myself and to hopefully entertain all of you for a little while longer, I’m releasing this chapter now, or else I probably never will. 
> 
> I hope your year has been going better than mine, my dear readers. I hope that, like me, you also find plenty of good amongst all the bad we’ve had lately. And of course, I hope you enjoy the chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! 
> 
> Incidentally, We've now caught up to the FF.net version of this story at time of writing, and thanks to AO3's new Rich Text feature, cross posting is gonna be much easier.

**Author's Note:**

> Greetings! If this fic looks familiar to you, that might be because I posted it on FF.net first, under the same name. I've decided to bring it over here as well because... well, honestly I just thought it'd be neat.
> 
> Anyway, the ten currently written chapters will be put up within the next few days. You'll probably notice a distinct rise in quality as the chapter numbers increase, and that's because I wrote some over things at the same time (That'll hopefully also go up here soon!) and my skills as a writer have advanced with that time.
> 
> (It also might be related to some long gaps between working on this story, others, and writer's block but shhh...)
> 
> Also, I have a tumblr now! If you have anything you want to ask me, then here's the handy-dandy link - [tah-dahhhhh](https://lordterronus.tumblr.com)!


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